CBC Mellissa Fung

華裔女記歷劫整月終獲釋
　　(星島日報報道)加拿大廣播公司（CBC）一名華裔女記者在阿富汗被綁架一個月後，獲得釋放。馮梅麗莎（Mellissa Fung）被綁架期間，一直困在一個小地洞內。她被綁架的事，加拿大當局視為高度機密，之前未有向傳媒透露，表示是為了保證馮梅麗莎的安全及最終獲釋。

　　馮梅麗莎於十月十二日在阿富汗首都喀布爾北部的一個難民營遭綁架。三天後，加拿大情報機構和突擊隊已知道她的被囚之處，並且準備進行援救。但正當突擊隊準備行動之際，美國特種兵也於十月十五日晚上，在喀布爾西部的幾乎同一地區展開另一人質救援活動，結果令加國的閃電突襲計畫泡湯。

　　美軍突襲行動後數天，該地區充滿了憤怒的激進分子，他們
用地面炮火打下了一架美國直升飛機。後來，阿富汗官員似乎能夠和瓦爾達克省（Wardak）的部落長老，商談解救馮梅麗莎一事。瓦爾達克省是喀布爾西部最無法紀的雪山區域。幾乎從一開始，加國軍方和情報官員就確定，馮梅麗莎被關押在該地區，這裏是塔利班最喜愛的藏身之處，也是沿喀布爾到坎大哈高速公路襲擊旅客的綁架者和盜匪的聚居地。

　　國防官員拒絕再進一步透露細節，他們稱不能犧牲軍方戰略。但眾所周知，北約有高超的竊聽技能。消息來源說，安全機構確信，綁架馮梅麗莎的人屬於「犯罪職業階層」，而非塔利班。塔利班在綁架發生後就立即向阿富汗媒體表示，他們沒有參與其中。

　　馮梅麗莎稱，綁架者在地上挖了一個「很小很小」的洞，旁邊有一條不足兩米長的隧道。頭三個星期有人跟她住在一起監視她，最後一個星期這些人離開，她就被鏈鎖覑。在被綁期間，她有時會被蒙眼。馮梅麗莎每天只獲數包餅乾和果汁充飢，沒有水。

　　加拿大總理哈珀表示，在營救過程中沒支付過贖金。馮梅麗莎在溫哥華居住的父母表示，女兒周六早上給他們打電話報平安，他們十分「驚喜」。她的母親卻沒有打算勸女兒放棄記者行業，反而支持她繼續努力，成為出色的記者。她的母親說：「由於現在她自己有親身經歷，她更了解其他人的處境，特別是那些需要幫助的人。她向來都非常同情這些人，她想向世人道出他們的心聲。

Abducted CBC journalist released in Afghanistan (CBC News)

CBC journalist Mellissa Fung was released to Canadian officials in Kabul on Saturday, four weeks after she was abducted.
Mellissa Fung was on her second tour as a journalist in Afghanistan when she was abducted. She was previously based in Regina and is seen here reporting from Beijing during the Summer Olympics in August.Mellissa Fung was on her second tour as a journalist in Afghanistan when she was abducted. She was previously based in Regina and is seen here reporting from Beijing during the Summer Olympics in August. (CBC)

Fung was taken by armed men who approached her in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul on Oct. 12.

The journalist, who was stationed at the NATO military base in Kandahar but was visiting the Kabul-area camp to report on a story, was then taken to the mountains west of the Afghan capital.

Fung, normally based in Regina, was on her second assignment to Afghanistan.

As news of her release emerged on Saturday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that she was in good health and undergoing a medical examination.

News of the abduction had been kept secret over concerns about her safety.

"In the interest of Mellissa's safety and that of other working journalists in the region, on the advice of security experts, we made the decision to ask media colleagues not to publish news of her abduction," CBC News publisher John Cruickshank said. "All of the efforts made by the security experts were focused on Mellissa’s safe and timely release."

"Fung's family was in daily contact with the team at CBC that was trying to negotiate this and help this go forward to the successful conclusion," said CBC journalist Susan Ormiston, who has also filed stories from Afghanistan.

Ormiston said several other reporters have gone into the same camp where Fung was taken. Fung was visiting the camp for internally displaced people to report on refugees who have streamed back into Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran.

"It's a difficult situation. It's a management of risk all the time, and it's something that we journalists do on a regular basis," she said.
Journalist calm after 28-day ordeal
Mellissa Fung's mother, Joyce Fung, speaking with CBC News on Saturday. (CBC)Mellissa Fung's mother, Joyce Fung, speaking with CBC News on Saturday. (CBC)

Joyce Fung, speaking from her home in Vancouver, said she heard about her daughter's release after she returned from church services and spoke to her husband, Kellog.

"She sounded so calm — just like Mellissa," she said. "She's a very calm and collected person."

The journalist herself had alerted authorities about her kidnapping on her portable phone. Her captors were not Taliban militants, she said, but unaffiliated bandits.

Adam Khan Serat, spokesman for the provincial governor in Afghanistan's Wardak province, said the journalist was freed after tribal elders and provincial council members negotiated her release.

"I cannot offer any detail about how the negotiations were managed in any respect," Cruickshank said. "We can't discuss any demands or promises made to secure her release, except to say it is the policy of the CBC not to pay ransom, and we followed that policy to the letter."

"She sounded terrific, and she said she hadn't been harmed in any way," CBC president Hubert Lacroix said. "She said she was sorry for all the trouble she caused."
Harper thanks Afghan government
Mellissa Fung reports for CBC News in Afghanistan in this undated photo. Mellissa Fung reports for CBC News in Afghanistan in this undated photo. (CBC)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters that no ransom was paid. He also thanked all those who "worked so tirelessly" to help win Fung's release, singling out Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"I spoke with President Karzai immediately following her kidnapping, and he assured me of the full co-operation and engagement of his government, and he has delivered," Harper said.

"This is wonderful news for her family, for her colleagues and for all Canadians," the prime minister said.

Lacroix thanked Canadian and Afghan government officials, as well as dozens of media organizations in Canada and around the world that agreed not to publicize the abduction during the reporter's month-long ordeal.

"Mellissa is now safe and in reasonable health, given the more than four weeks [she spent] in these difficult circumstances," he said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.

"She is being examined by Canadian medical staff in Kabul and soon she will be flying to another location in the Middle East in preparation for her return to Canada.

"Plans are being made to reunite Mellissa with her family as soon as possible," he added.

Lacroix said employees at the public broadcaster prepare "rigorously" for the possibility that a journalist may be abducted in a conflict zone, but no amount of planning or training could prepare them for the feeling of "hopelessness, anger and dread" they felt after hearing about Fung's abduction.

Mellissa Fung was on her second tour as a journalist in Afghanistan when she was abducted. She was previously based in Regina and is seen here reporting from Beijing during the Summer Olympics in August. (CBC)

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