Death threat to Aussie reporter

By Paul Osborne

AN Australian journalist has told how he was threatened with death by militants who captured him in Iraq.

John Martinkus was interrogated for more than 20 hours after the group kidnapped him outside a Baghdad hotel.

The veteran freelancer, who has covered conflicts from East Timor to Iraq, has also angrily denied suggestions by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that he was captured after entering a dangerous area against advice.

"I was nowhere dangerous, I was doing nothing dangerous, I was not putting myself at risk," he said, adding Mr Downer’s comments were "ridiculous".

Mr Martinkus was released unharmed late yesterday, a day after he was taken hostage by four Sunni militants and ex-Iraqi army officers.

He was filming a report for SBS’s Dateline program and was preparing to leave Iraq when he was detained about 5pm (AEST) on Saturday outside a hotel popular with foreign correspondents.

He said he had been released without harm, but had been threatened with his life.

"I can’t say very much but ... of course they said they were going to kill me," Mr Martinkus told ABC’s Lateline program last night.

He said he was treated well once he had told his kidnappers he was independent and not linked to the US-led coalition in Iraq.

"I told them what I was doing (and) I wasn’t armed," he said.

"I was able to basically establish that I was an independent journalist reporting what was going on and that I had no links to the coalition."

Asked how he coped with the situation, Mr Martinkus said: "I just kept talking."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Mr Martinkus had been captured when he went to "a part of Baghdad that he was advised not to go to, but he went there anyway."

Mr Martinkus denied he was in a no-go area.

"That is ridiculous because I was actually in the street outside the only hotel in Baghdad occupied by journalists ... which is directly across the road from the Australian embassy," he said.

"I was grabbed by insurgents who were very well organised."

Mr Downer said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan broached the subject of Australia contributing to a force to protect UN officials inside Iraq while attending the HIV-AIDS conference in Bangkok in July.

"During that meeting he informally sounded me out and I said I would discuss the issue with the prime minister and the Cabinet and there was a brief discussion about it in the national security committee of Cabinet," he said.

"But that was a few months ago."

Australia has just under 400 personnel inside Iraq, with that number set to fall now that the 40-member Australian Army Training Team has finished training Iraqi soldiers.

Yesterday’s blast occurred in central Baghdad not far from the Australian embassy where the 120-member Australian Defence Force security detail protects diplomats and other Australian personnel.

Commander of the Australian force in the Middle East Brigadier Peter Hutchinson said no Australians had been hurt. (AAP)

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