Legal Commentary

NY Times Reporter Escapes After Being Held By Taliban For 7 Months

By Jeralyn

Pulitzer Prize winner and NY Times investigative reporter David Rohde, 41, was kidnapped 7 months ago while interviewing a Taliban commander for a new book. The Times kept it mum, as did other media outlets, so as not to jeopardize his safety. Yesterday, he and a local reporter kidnapped with him, Tahir Ludin, escaped by climbing over a wall. A Pakistani army scout safely delivered them to a U.S. military base.

The article reads like a novel, but it's all true. And Rohde sounds like an incredibly committed journalist. He was previously captured and held in Bosnian Serb territory while investigating mass graves. "After 10 days of imprisonment, during which he was interrogated relentlessly and deprived of sleep, Mr. Rohde was freed."

He spent three months in Afghanistan in 2001, and from 2002 to 2005, was co-chief of The Times’s South Asia bureau. As for the local reporter with him, [More...]

[He] is now the father of seven children under the age of 8 and the sole breadwinner for an extended family of 17.

The Times reports demands were made for ransom and release of Taliban prisoners, but neither were complied with.

Welcome back, Mr. Rohde.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 20, 2009 (boomark / email).