Michigan Muslims Worked for Carroll’s Release

March 30, 2006

Source: The Kansas City Star/Detroit Free Press

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14226525.htm

On March 30, 2006 the Detroit Free Press reported, "From holding news conferences to making a hazardous trip to Baghdad, Iraq, Muslims in Michigan and across the United States launched an extraordinary campaign to help secure the release of kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll. During the three months that she was held hostage, Muslims - with their words and their actions - organized for her freedom and condemned the kidnapping as un-Islamic. Some even worked their political and religious contacts inside Iraq. American Muslims have called for the freeing of hostages before. But this time, they went all out... On Jan. 21, council officials Nihad Awad and Corey Saylor landed in Baghdad, where they called for Carroll's immediate release. The message was broadcast repeatedly on several Arabic-language TV stations, including Al-Jazeera. Numerous Muslim groups worldwide - including Hamas - called for her release... It's unclear whether pressure from American Muslims - or other Muslim groups around the world - played a role in Carroll's release Thursday. But [Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations] and others say they hope their efforts showed the public that Muslims abhor terrorism and kidnapping."

See also: Islam, Civic