newspaper described as an answer to prayers of people around the world.
"I’m just really grateful. The overwhelming emotion is gratitude. I am glad this day has arrived and thank whatever forces, divine and otherwise, that helped bring about this day," said Jill, 28, a freelance reporter with the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor newspaper, in an interview with Baghdad Television.
Caroll disappeared January 7, as she tried to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi in Baghdad’s western Adil neighborhood. As he was not in his office, Carroll and her Iraqi driver and interpreter reportedly left after about 20 minutes, but were attacked by gunmen.
Carroll was seized, and her interpreter, Allan Eniwya, was killed. 82 long days later On Thursday, March 29, her captors simply drove her to Iraqi Islamic Party (IPP) office and then drove off, she said.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
"The prayers of people all over the world have been answered," said Monitor Editor Richard Bergenheim in a statement confirming the news Thursday, March 29. "This is an exciting day, we couldn’t be happier. We are so pleased she’ll be back with her family. The prayers of people all over the world have been answered."
Her release came just a week after three Christian hostages, a Briton and two Canadians were freed during a joint US and British military operation.
Briton Norman Kember, 74, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 33, who worked for the international conflict resolution group Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), have meanwhile returned to their families. The body of the fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, 54, was discovered this month,
From the beginning her captors had implied they would kill her if Iraqi prisoners held by coalition forces weren’t released. But Carroll said, "They never hit me. They never even threatened to hit me."
SHOWER NEARBY
Yet Carroll, wearing a Muslim veil, also made clear that "the room" where she was held, "had a window but the glass you know, you can’t see," making a motion with her hand as if the window was blocked, "and you couldn’t hear any sound, and so I would sit in the room."
The reporter added that she had to go "two feet, to the next door to take a shower or go to the bathroom and come back." Sometimes she said, she had contact with Iraqi women and children in the house which she found "comforting." She was apparently only allowed to watch television and read a newspaper once and had little information about what was going on in the world at large.
"I was treated well, but I don’t know why I was kidnapped," Carroll told the TV station about her kidnappers. After her release she managed to make a phone call to her twin sister Katie Carroll who had appeared on the Arab TV station Al Arabiyah, where she had talked of the impact the kidnapping had on the family.
"I was dreaming that this would be the way I’d find out – that she’d call me in the middle of the night like this," her Katie Carroll said. "She sounded great. I just want to thank everyone who’s prayed and given us support through this time, and we’re obviously looking forward to some private time with Jill."
CALLING PARENTS
She also called her parents, Jim and Mary Beth. "The first thing she told me today was, ‘I love you,’" The Christian Science Monitor quoted her mother, Mary Beth, as saying. "She said, ‘Every single day I was in captivity, I cried over how worried you must be, and what a burden this must be for the family.’ "
Carroll was eventually picked up by the American military and driven to the Green Zone in Baghdad. In a reaction, President George W. Bush said he rejoiced at her release. "Thank God," he added. "I’m just really grateful she was released," he said. He thanked those "who worked so hard for her release. I’m glad she’s alive."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed "great delight and great relief of the United States, the people of the United States and, I’m sure, the people of the world at the release today of Jill Carroll."
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders hailed the news of the release of Jill as a “huge relief”, but also expressed concerns over other journalists who are still detained. “We thank all those throughout the world, particularly the major Arabic media, who campaigned for the release of this young journalist,” the organization said.
But it added, that its "campaign will not be over until the three Iraqi reporters, Rim Zeid, Marwan Khazaal and Ali Abdullah Fayad have been released in their turn”.
The group expressed "extreme anxiety about a surge in kidnapping and murders of journalists" in Iraq. "To date, at least 86 journalists and media assistants have been killed and 39 others have been kidnapped in the country since the start of the conflict, on 20 March 2003. This targeted brutality is repugnant and threatens the existence of independent news and information in Iraq,” the organization added.
Religious rights groups have also expressed concern over the kidnappings if Iraqi Christians, who make up a minority in the mainly Muslim nation. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom).
