The Endless Cycle of Capturing Journalists

All around the world we have heard the disturbing news about the two American journalists captured in North Korea, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Both on assignment from Current TV, the two were captured for apparently "illegally intruding" into the country from China. The two were interviewing Northern Korean refugees in China but were accused of being on the wrong side of the border at the time. Laura and Euna had been working on Current TV's "Vanguard" episodes in which they and the crew expose certain situations from different countries, in this case, human trafficking.

Laura Ling, is the sister of Lisa Ling, formerly of ABC's "The View", who, along with her family broke their silence last month, have been courageously speaking out in the media in every way possible, urging the safe release of Laura & Euna, from Facebook, to CNN, to Twitter, as well as direct contact with the Obama Administration.

There are growing fears Pyongyang is using these women as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the country for its defiant May 25 atomic test and as North Korea seeks to draw Washington into direct negotiations.

According to the Associated Press, "The Central Court in Pyongyang sentenced each to 12 years of "reform through labor" in a North Korean prison after a five-day trial, the Korean Central News Agency said in a terse, two-line report that provided no further details. A Korean-language version said they were convicted of 'hostility toward the Korean people.''

The question is, when did you first hear about their capture, and what was your reaction?

I first heard about it on Twitter, which is where I am finding more and more Americans are getting their news these days. (The only source for 24/7 thorough news on the Iran conflict, even mayors announcing their run for Governor, enter Gavin Newsom).

In my lifetime there have been many cases of this happening in Iran, Iraq, Korea and beyond and sadly, this ongoing cycle is never ending, but why?

When I first heard of their capturing in North Korea, my mind was filled with flashbacks of similar cases, and the first image took me back to 1991, when journalists of CBS television news, were captured by Iraqi army patrol, on the Saudi-Kuwaiti border, four days after the war began in the Persian Gulf. The four journalists were held in bunkers in Kuwait and at a prison and the intelligence headquarters in Baghdad. They were all accused of being spies and held in solitary confinement during 40 days in captivitiy, they were beaten, starved, and constantly threatened and accused of being "spies" for the U.S. on foreign territory.

Their case ended in freedom, after 40 long torturous days, but it took the Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, helping to arrange their release after a personal appeal from Henry S. Kissinger, the former Secretary of State.

And even more recently, in February of 2009, Roxana Saberi, an American freelance journalist was detained in Iran for doing "completely illegal and unauthorized work," according to a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry.

As Nazila Fathi reported in The New York Times in March, Roxana's arrest first came to light when her father, Reza Saberi, told Scott Simon of National Public Radio that his daughter had called from "an unknown place" in Iran to tell him that she had been arrested. By his daughter's account, Mr. Saberi told N.P.R., she was detained after buying a bottle of wine, which is illegal in Iran. Mr. Saberi added that he thought that was just a pretext for the arrest, since Iranians caught buying wine are usually fined, not imprisoned.

Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American author who recently published "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran," said, "being both Iranian and American is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it definitely affords one more protection because Iran is mindful of its image, and arresting an American brings attention, but on the other hand, depending on for whom one has written or what one's activities are, could bring suspicion." As Mr. Majd says, Ms. Saberi "worked for Fox at some point, and the BBC, which are both considered propaganda tools against Iran."

After help from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Obama's Administration, Roxana was freed after three months in captivity. Roxana said that she was heartened when she learned of all the support she was getting from the United States and elsewhere while still being held in Tehran's Evin prison. As Reuters reported: "In March, Clinton's staff broke with usual diplomatic isolation of Iran at a conference in The Hague and directly passed on a letter to Tehran's delegation, urging Saberi's freedom on humanitarian grounds."

In a recent interview aired on NPR, Roxana said that she was "very afraid to keep denying the charge that she had spied." She went on to say, "After I realized that nobody knew where I was, I was very afraid, and my interrogators threatened me and said, if you don't confess to being a U.S. spy, you could be here for many years -- 10 years or 20 years, or you could even face execution. And I thought, well if something happens to me, my family doesn't know where I am. Maybe they would never find out. And so, I made a false confession, and I said, 'Yes, I'm a U.S. spy.'"

Parnaz Azima, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, spent eight months under house arrest in Tehran in 2007. Since leaving Iran, she was convicted of "anti-state propaganda" and sentenced to two years in prison. Last year, an appeals court reversed that decision and suspended her sentence, but any attempt to enter Iran will likely lead to her arrest.

Parnaz says, "Roxanna Saberi's release from prison comes as a relief to those of us who have been following her case and hoping for a thaw in relations between Iran and the United States. The fact that her appeal and release happened so quickly reinforces my belief that this was a political case and not a legal one." I have to agree with her as she went on to say, "Iran has a history of using Iranian-Americans to put pressure on the United States. I credit the pressure the international community brought on Iran for the decision to reduce her eight-year prison sentence to a two-year suspended sentence. Iran's leaders realized that the case was escalating tensions with the U.S. at the very moment that President Obama was showing a willingness to engage with Tehran and begin a process of rapprochement. Radio Farda listeners in Iran are echoing this, saying that Ms. Saberi's release is an attempt to reduce strain with Washington. Iran has a history of trying to use Iranian-Americans like me and Ms. Saberi to put pressure on the United States. In almost every case, however, the strategy backfires. It's a wonder they keep trying it."

Why can we not make this a humanitarian issue? The politics and maneuvering is endangering these innocent journalists lives. I understand, journalism on foreign soil is risky, but have you ever said no when your boss sends you on a business trip for the better of the company? Executives in my company go to foreign countries on a weekly basis, from Paris all the way to Bangkok. Think about this from a dedicated worker's prospective? Dedication and being a voice for those victims who cannot speak, is not a crime.

In her profile for Current TV, Laura Ling writes:
"Is the media broken? I'm rarely inspired by what I see in the media. Television is supposed to be the most powerful medium--but TV news seems to be anything but powerful. Vanguard is trying to change that. We're trying to provide knowledge and context about what's happening in our world as opposed to just covering random news events. We hope our work generates dialogue about the important issues affecting our lives."

I've seen Euna's work for the Vanguard, and found it to be risky journalism but what she has accomplished on television has been magnificent, and very informative. Her sense of covering topics that countries rarely want the public to know about, is brave and heroic. And for any of us who have watched Laura's and Euna's work, we understood that their passion to inform the public was important but also risky.

What will it take for Laura & Euna to be freed?

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who helped win the release of Americans from North Korea in the 1990s, said that he was "ready to do anything" the Obama administration asked. Others say, another possible negotiator, if the U.S. government approved, is former Vice President Al Gore, founder of Current TV.

I think in the U.S. we take for granted our everyday freedoms. We don't realize how lucky we are that we have un-restricted access to the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and the media. We are so inner-connected we feel somehow molded together in unison over virtual groups and chat rooms on the Internet, 24/7. This is not the case in a country like North Korea, where there is no such thing as world media or "freedom of the press." While I understand respecting laws, I also think creating a human chess game with innocent lives at stake, is beyond inhumane, and in the end these women must be freed, no matter how long it takes.

The more voices that rally together for their freedom the better, as I believe these ongoing cases are evidence that the more leverage these countries can get, the more determined they are to continue this dangerous and sometimes fatal cycle.

On June 3rd, I took part in the LA Vigil for Laura & Euna and what I saw with my own eyes was a family in pain. Lisa Ling is an amazing journalist, with nerves of steel, and I watched her break down in front of hundreds when she talked about her sister. I saw Laura Ling's father marching amongst all of us with a look of worry on his face that I have never seen on a mans face. I saw Laura and Euna's husbands absolutely beside themselves, almost lost in a sea of thought.

Laura's mother Mary, was the hardest to watch. The state of pain, hurt, and concern in Mary's eyes was heart wrenching. After the vigil I went up to Mary to express my sympathies and so badly wanted to comfort her in some way. I managed a few delicate words and said, "I don't even know you, but I must say your story has touched me so deeply. I am so sorry, and I will be a voice for your daughter every way I can," as she then pulled me in and gave me a huge hug and said 'thank you'. I took over 50 pictures of the vigil that night, and yet that hug is what moved me the most! (You can see for your self the moving pictures I took at Vigil that night)

As stated on the petition site for the girls release:

"We call on the Government of North Korea to release Euna and Laura on humanitarian grounds. These women are wives, mothers, daughters, sisters; they are missed by their families and friends, who would like to see them safe and back at home."

Join the group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60755553149&ref=ts
Follow on Twitter: @LiberateLaura
Blogs for freedom of Laura & Euna : http://liberatelaura.wordpress.com/

Follow Keely Field on Twitter: www.twitter.com/keelygirl

Comments

[S1m0n]

Or maybe they really were spying. In any case, sneaking over the border of a nation that yours is still officially AT WAR with is a really bad idea.

[BobLablah]

If the US sucked so bad under Bush, how come no foreign journalists were ever arrested here?