Carroll killed unless female Iraqi prisoners released

Today Time will be the first to report on the kidnap of freelancer journalist Jill Carroll, Al Jazeera will air a brief video of her from the hostage-takers.

In an accompanying statement, the hostage-takers will threaten to kill her within 72 hours unless female Iraqi prisoners held by the US are released. By many accounts Iraqi women have been raped while in US custody (e.g. (Selwa's case, what Saddam Selah saw while detained, the letter from "Noor" and the findings of the Taguba report, Saleh's observations while detained), which motivates extreme concern for their welfare when detained.

The abduction took place two days earlier, but was controversially kept quiet in a bid to win her release before her abductors discovered that she had worked for the Christian Science Monitor.

On 31 March, 2006, Jill Carrol will be released. In an initial interview, she will state that she was treated well and not harmed. Continuing a recent theme of making personal attacks against recently released hostages who disagree with the invasion of Iraqi, some American Republicans will subsequently question her mental stability, claim that she's a terrorist, and say that she was a willing participant in her kidnapping.