"Of course you have to go to Afghanistan or to Syria," said French TV reporter Hervé Ghesquière, who was held hostage for 547 days in Afghanistan together with his cameraman, Stéphane Taponier, between December 2010 and June 2011.
Stéphane Taponier and Hervé Ghesquière, the two France 3 journalists held captive by the Taliban for 547 days, had a big surprise when they entered the France Télévisions building Thursday afternoon, a few hours after landing at the military base of Villacoublay, close to Paris, where they were welcomed by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
New York, June 29, 2011--Eighteen months after their abduction in Afghanistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of France 3 television crew members Hervé Ghesquière, Stéphane Taponier, and Reza Din.
On December 29, 2009, Stéphane
Taponier and Hervé Ghesquière, two seasoned reporters with the French public
service TV channel France 3, and their three Afghan assistants, were taken
hostage in Afghanistan. One year later, a sense of cautious optimism seems
to prevail in Paris. On December 20, French authorities announced that they had
received a video showing the hostages "in good health" although "they appear
weakened by the detention." According to Paul Nahon, director of France 3, the
video--which was not publicly broadcast--was shot "around November 20."
Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier, two journalists from the public television channel France 3, along with their Afghan translator, Mohamed Reza, and two assistants, Ghulam and Satar, have been held hostage for 300 days in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, I posted an item about the dangers to journalists in Pakistan, reminding readers that at least two reporters—Canadian freelancer Beverley Giesbrecht, who goes by the name Khadija Abdul Qahaar, and British journalist Asad Qureshi—are being held captive somewhere along the border with Afghanistan. I later received a few e-mail messages reminding me that there are at least three journalists still being held in Afghanistan as well. Here are updates on the Afghan cases:
New York, April 14, 2010—The Committee to Protect
Journalists is deeply concerned by the new demands made by a Taliban group that
is holding captive two French television journalists, Hervé Ghesquière and
Stéphane Taponier, translator Mohammed Reza, and the
group’s driver. They
were taken in Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, in December.
