Feb 13, 2008 2:00 pm US/Central
CBS Translator Freed In Iraq; Producer Still Held
BAGHDAD (CBS) ―
Police say an Iraqi translator for CBS News kidnapped in Basra has been released; A British journalist remains captive.
Earlier Wednesday, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's office in Basra said a deal to secure both of them had been reached.
Harith al-Ethari, a director of al-Sadr's office in the southern Iraqi city, said negotiations had persuaded the kidnappers to release the British journalist and his Iraqi interpreter later Wednesday.
"We reached an agreement with kidnappers to hand over the Iraqi interpreter to the police command in Basra and the British journalist will be handed over to al-Sadr's office in Basra this afternoon," al-Ethari told The Associated Press. He did not give a specific time.
Iraqi police and witnesses said the two were seized Sunday from a hotel in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.
CBS News said Monday that two journalists working for it were missing in Basra, but it did not identify them and has requested their names not be released if obtained.
Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, has seen fierce fighting between rival Shiite militias as part of a power struggle in the oil-rich south.
Al-Ethari did not identify the kidnappers but said Sadrist mediators had persuaded the kidnappers to drop their demands and release the hostages. He refused to list the original demands ahead of the release.
Earlier, an Iraqi police official in Basra familiar with the negotiations said talks had started at 3 p.m. Tuesday and continued until midnight, then resumed three hours later.
Kidnappings of Westerners and Iraqis - for political motives or ransom - were common in the past but have become infrequent recently with a decline in violence.
Since 2004, three journalists - Fakher Haider of The New York Times, as well as James Brandon of Britain and New York freelancer Steven Vincent - have been abducted in Basra, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Brandon was released, but Vincent and Haider were murdered, it said.
According to CPJ, at least 51 journalists have been abducted in Iraq since 2004. The New York-based group said the majority was released, but 12 were killed.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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