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Jon Williams

Support for Alan


On Monday, Mark Thompson, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ director general, spoke to a rally of colleagues of Alan Johnston, our reporter in Gaza who we believe has been abducted. Palestinian journalists in Gaza also staged a one-day strike in support of Alan.

rally.jpgMark said this to the rally: "Exactly two weeks, at 2:15pm on a Monday afternoon, Alan Johnston left the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's bureau in Gaza to go home. He said goodbye to his colleagues, got into his car, and promised to phone them when he reached his flat. He never rang. His car was found abandoned. We believe he was abducted. No one from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ has seen or heard from Alan since, though we're told by others that he is safe, and being looked after.

"Alan is one of those rather amazing Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ people, who make extraordinary sacrifices and take considerable risks because they believe a story needs to be told... We continue to talk to the people in the Middle East, and in the UK, to try and secure Alan's release. But two weeks after he was abducted, all of us, in London and in Gaza, want him home."

You can hear Mark Thompson's full speech here.

Jon Williams is the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's world news editor

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Martin Rosenbaum, who writes the Open Secrets blog, here writes about the hearing at the High Court starting on Tuesday concerning Freedom of Information applications to publish a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ internal review of the corporation's Middle East coverage.

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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ in the news, Tuesday

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  • 27 Mar 07, 09:44 AM

Daily Telegraph: Gillian Reynolds comments on the anger evoked by the subject of slavery on various Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ radio programmes to mark the 200th anniversary of the trade's abolition. ()

The Independent: Reports on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Director General Mark Thompson's appeal for the release of missing Gaza journalist Alan Johnston. ()

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