Al-Jazeera cameraman urges release of kidnapped BBC journalist

A TV cameraman jailed at Guantanamo Bay has appealed for the release of a BBC journalist kidnapped in Gaza, saying his own detention by the US military “is not a lesson that Muslims should copy.”

Sami al-Hajj of the al-Jazeera TV network urged those holding Alan Johnston to free him quickly and without conditions in a statement released today by his attorney.

“As brothers in one faith, consider this gift that I request of you,” he said. “While the United States has kidnapped me and held me for years on end, this is not a lesson that Muslims should copy.”

Al-Hajj, a 38-year-old native of Sudan, has been held at the US Naval Base in south-east Cuba for nearly five years on suspicion of links to Islamic militant groups.

His attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, said he could not discuss how his client learned about the plight of Johnston, a 45-year-old correspondent seized March 12 in Gaza City by Palestinian gunmen.

His disappearance is the longest of any Western journalist abducted in Gaza.

“Sami feels very strongly that his situation is unfair and that he doesn’t want to see other people treated equally unfairly,” Stafford Smith said.

A Palestinian government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, said over the weekend that negotiations with the “small group” holding Johnston could soon lead to his release.

In his statement from Guantanamo, al-Hajj also said he has participated in a hunger strike since January to protest his detention and demand a fair trial.

He has denied any links to terrorism, and his colleagues at Al-Jazeera claim his detention is harassment of the Qatar-based Arabic TV network whose coverage has long angered US officials.

Al-Hajj is believed to be the only journalist from a major international news organisation among the roughly 380 men imprisoned at Guantanamo. Like the vast majority of detainees, he has not been charged.