Carroll back on home soil

2006-04-02 20:20

Boston - American reporter Jill Carroll, who was held hostage in Iraq for 82 days, returned to the United States on Sunday.

Carroll was seized on January 7 in western Baghdad by gunmen who killed her Iraqi translator while the two were on the way to meet a Sunni Arab official in one of the city's most dangerous neighbourhoods.

She was released on Thursday.

In a video recorded before she was freed and posted by her captors on an Islamist website, Carroll spoke out against the US military presence.

On Saturday, she said the recording was made under duress.

"During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video.

"They told me I would be released if I co-operated.

"I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive.

"So I agreed," she said in a statement.

"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."

In the statement, Carroll also disavowed an interview she gave to the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organisation in whose offices she was dropped off upon her release.

She said the party had promised her the interview would not be aired "and broke their word".

"At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely.

"Out of fear, I said I wasn't threatened.

"In fact, I was threatened many times," she said.

In her statement on Saturday, she condemned her captors, although she did not address the war in Iraq.

"I will not engage in polemics.

"But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes," she said.

- AP