ICRC calls for release of Iraqi Red Crescent staff abducted in Baghdad
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called today for the immediate and
unconditional release of all persons abducted from one of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society offices in Baghdad.
Geneva (ICRC) - Some 30 persons, most of them Iraqi Red Crescent workers, were kidnapped by unidentified armed men in the morning of 17 December from their duty station in the Iraqi capital.
Shortly thereafter, ICRC Director of Operations Pierre Krähenbühl appealed for the unconditional and immediate release of the Iraqi Red Crescent personnel and of all others abducted with them.
"I call upon those who carried out the kidnapping at the Iraqi Red Crescent office to immediately release all the abducted persons unharmed," he said.
"Iraqi Red Crescent workers provide vital help for all Iraqis in need.
They do so with devotion and with humanity.
They must be respected and supported, not harmed." The Iraqi Red Crescent offices are clearly identified by the red crescent emblem.
The staff working for this humanitarian organization are entitled to full protection under international humanitarian law.
For further information, please contact:
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel.
+41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18
Nada Doumani, ICRC Iraq, tel.
+964 790 191 6927 or +962 777 399 614
See also ICRC media contacts
This article on www.icrc.org
Geneva (ICRC) - Some 30 persons, most of them Iraqi Red Crescent workers, were kidnapped by unidentified armed men in the morning of 17 December from their duty station in the Iraqi capital.
Shortly thereafter, ICRC Director of Operations Pierre Krähenbühl appealed for the unconditional and immediate release of the Iraqi Red Crescent personnel and of all others abducted with them.
"I call upon those who carried out the kidnapping at the Iraqi Red Crescent office to immediately release all the abducted persons unharmed," he said.
"Iraqi Red Crescent workers provide vital help for all Iraqis in need.
They do so with devotion and with humanity.
They must be respected and supported, not harmed." The Iraqi Red Crescent offices are clearly identified by the red crescent emblem.
The staff working for this humanitarian organization are entitled to full protection under international humanitarian law.
For further information, please contact:
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel.
+41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18
Nada Doumani, ICRC Iraq, tel.
+964 790 191 6927 or +962 777 399 614
See also ICRC media contacts
This article on www.icrc.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
