Reporters gather to support BBC correspondent abducted in Gaza

Moscow, May 17 (UNI) Some 15 Russian and foreign journalists gathered today in central Moscow to make a plea for the release of BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston, abducted on March 12.

Reporters held aloft a portrait of Johnston in one of many acts of solidarity organized by the BBC and the International Federation of Journalists in a number of countries, including the US, France and the U K today, to coincide with the correspondent's 45th birthday.

Johnston has worked in Gaza for the past three years and was the only Western reporter working in the region at the time of his abduction. He is now one of a handful of foreign journalists and aid workers to have been abducted in the Palestinian enclave over the past two years.

An unknown Palestinian militant group earlier claimed the journalist had been executed, but Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas denied the report.

Johnston's parents have appealed to anyone who might have information on their son's whereabouts to relay it to Palestinian authorities. European Parliament members, the UN secretary general and Arab media have all called for his release.

In previous abduction cases, the victims were released unharmed within a few days.

UNI