Appeal for the Liberation of Simona Pari, Simona Torretta, Ra’ad Ali Abdul-Aziz and Mahnaz Bassam

Appeal for the Liberation of Simona Pari, Simona Torretta,
Ra’ad Ali
Abdul-Aziz and Mahnaz Bassam from the Italian Peace Movement.


by A Bridge to Baghdad

We, the Italian peace movement, we who are the brothers and sisters of Simona
Pari and Simona Torretta, peaceworkers in Iraq, ask those who are holding them
and their two Iraqi co-workers, Ra’ad Ali Abdul-Aziz and Mahnaz Bassam, to release
them immediately. We beg you to consider the untold damage your actions are inflicting
on the cause of peace and of the Iraqi
people.

We endorse the words of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy: "Bear witness
to the debt of gratitude towards those who shared the suffering of the Iraqis
during the years of the sanctions, who stayed in the country while bombs were
raining down, who refused to abandon the country even during these last, horrible
months of confusion and violence."

We entreat you not to sever the bond of solidarity which - despite and
against the economic sanctions and war, despite the decisions of our Italian
government - people like our sisters have built and strengthened, bravely
and with determination, for example organizing the delivery of drinking
water to the inhabitants of the besieged cities of Falluja and Najaf.

"A Bridge to Baghdad", their NGO, together with hundreds of social and
political organisations in our country, were the organizers of enormous
demonstrations in favour of peace and calling for the withdrawal of all
foreign troops from Iraq; they did everything they could to avoid leaving
the Iraqi people alone under the arbitrary rule of the occupying forces.

In the name of this struggle, in the name of truth, we beg you: release them
immediately.

We ask the Iraqi people and all peace-loving people in the world, and in
Italy, to help us in the effort to save the lives of Simona Pari, Simona
Torretta, Ra’ad Ali Abdul-Aziz, Mahnaz Bassam. They were in Baghdad in our
name, in the name of us all. Today, we are all captives, we are all in their
prison with them.

Their release would shed a ray of light in this dark night of violence. As
we write, in many Iraqi cities, war is still causing innocent victims. For
this reason we continue to call for an end to all fighting, an end to the
occupation.

Mobilization, pressure, lobbying, appeals, candlelight vigils, messages to
governments - these are the tools we, the peace-loving people, can use. Let
us use them all, now.

We ask the Italian peace movement to take to the streets, in every city,
immediately, with the rainbow colours of our peace flags and in the name of
our sisters and brothers who have been kidnapped in Iraq.

The Italian "Stop the War" Committee, which organized the mass
demonstrations on 15 February 2003 and 20 March 2004.