Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=2/9/2005

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ITALY JOURNALIST/IRAQ (L-O)

NUMBER=2-322432

BYLINE=SABINA CASTELFRANCO

DATELINE=ROME

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Italian Newspaper Says its Reporter Kidnapped in Iraq Alive

INTRO: The leftist Italian newspaper Il Manifesto says its reporter kidnapped in Baghdad last week is alive. The paper said an unspecified contact person had seen her twice. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.

TEXT: Conflicting claims have appeared on Islamic militant web sites since the 57-year-old Italian journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad. Giuliana Sgrena, who works for the leftist newspaper Il Manifesto, was abducted last Friday by a group of gunmen outside Baghdad University.

A group calling itself the Mujahideen Brigades claimed it had killed the journalist because she was a spy working for U.S. forces. The claim was judged doubtful in Italy and in the Arab world.

Another group, the Islamic Jihad organization, which first claimed responsibility for the abduction, said it had become clear that the journalist was not a spy and would be released within a few days.

The same group had at first given the Italian government a deadline to pull its three-thousand troops out of Iraq or the journalist would be killed.

On Wednesday the newspaper that employs Ms. Sgrena reported it had indications that she was alive, adding that intelligence officials had made indirect contact with the kidnappers.

In a sign of solidarity, the speaker of Italy's lower house, Pierferdinando Casini, Wednesday visited the offices of Il Manifesto newspaper. He told Ms. Sgrena's colleagues he is following developments in the case closely and

with concern.

/// CASINI ACT, ITALIAN FADE UNDER ///

Mr. Casini said this moment is also to be seen as a test of national unity because at this time no political distinctions can be made.

Italian officials have been investigating whether the journalist was taken by insurgents seeking political gains or by ordinary criminals hoping for a ransom.

A large number of appeals for Ms. Sgrena's release have been made in Italy and in Iraq underlining that the journalist and her newspaper are both against the U.S. led military intervention in Iraq.

Il Manifesto newspaper announced that it was planning to hold a large demonstration against the war and all forms of terror in Rome February 19th.

Italy has already lost two hostages in Iraq: a security guard and a leftist freelance reporter. (SIGNED)

NEB/SC/RH/RAE