Baghdad, Iraq – American reporter Jill Carroll’s three- month hostage ordeal ended Thursday when she was left on a Baghdad street in front of a Sunni political party office. She appeared composed and eager to talk about her 82 days held captive in a tiny room.
“It’s important people know that I was not harmed,” she said.
Wearing a green Islamic head scarf and a gray Iraqi robe, Carroll was dropped off at midday near an office of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
She walked inside and was driven 20 minutes to party headquarters, where she called her family and gave an interview to Baghdad Television before being handed over to U.S. authorities.
The 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor said her kidnappers confined her to a small, soundproof room with frosted windows but treated her well.
Although her captors issued televised threats to kill Carroll if American forces did not release female prisoners, she said: “They never said they would hit me, never threatened me in any way.”
Carroll said she did not know who her kidnappers were, where she was held or why she was set free. Shortly before she was released, the journalist said, “they just came to me and said, ‘OK, we’re letting you go now.’ That’s all.”
The U.S. ambassador said there was no ransom paid by the American Embassy, but his remarks left open the question of whether “arrangements” were made by others. None of the kidnappers was captured, he said.
In the interview, Carroll seemed well and animated and spoke in a strong voice. She frequently tucked her hair under her scarf, and she appeared excited to be free nearly three months after she was ambushed and her translator killed.
Carroll’s father, Jim, standing on the porch of his home in Chapel Hill, N.C., said he was asleep when the phone rang about 6 a.m. “Hi, Dad. This is Jill. I’m released,” the voice on the other end said.
“Obviously we are thrilled and relieved that she has been released,” he said.
Near Chicago, the reporter’s mother, Mary Beth Carroll, said she was trying to figure out travel plans so she could hug her daughter again. “We’re thrilled,” she told The Associated Press.
Carroll’s release came a day after her twin, Katie, pleaded on Arab television for her freedom. On Thursday, the sisters also spoke by phone.
“She called me because she remembered my number. I was dreaming that this would be the way I’d find out – that she’d call me in the middle of the night like this,” Katie said, according to the Monitor.
“She sounded great. I just want to thank everyone who’s prayed and given us support through this time, and we’re obviously looking forward to some private time with Jill.”
President Bush said he rejoiced at the news. “I’m just really grateful she was released,” he said. He thanked those “who worked so hard for her release. I’m glad she’s alive.”
With Carroll’s release, there are no more foreign journalists held hostage in Iraq, but two Iraqi journalists kidnapped on Feb. 1 are still being held.
Carroll was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad’s western Adil neighborhood while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her translator was killed in the attack about 300 yards from al-Dulaimi’s office.
About 12:15 p.m. Thursday in west Baghdad’s Amiriyah neighborhood, Carroll was dropped near a branch office of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Carroll walked into the office carrying a letter in Arabic from her kidnappers instructing the party to help her.
She “introduced herself as Jill Carroll … and gave us a written letter in Arabic that asked the Islamic Party help her,” Alaa Maki, a party member, told reporters.
During her captivity, Carroll said, she was allowed on only one occasion to read a newspaper and watch television and was largely unaware of what was happening in the outside world.
“I was kept in a very good, small safe place, a safe room, nice furniture,” she said, adding that she was given clothing and plenty of food. “I was allowed to take showers, go to the bathroom when I wanted,” she said. They “never hit me, never even threatened to hit me.”
“It was difficult because I didn’t know what would happen to me,” she told the Baghdad Television interviewer. Her face seemed rounder than before, perhaps because of months without exercise.
The Washington Post reported her saying that she had eaten even when she was not hungry rather than give offense by turning down meals.
Carroll emphasized that she had not been harmed. “It’s important people know that – that I was not harmed.”
Carroll wept in a Jan. 30 tape released by the kidnappers, and the voiceover of the video said she was appealing for authorities to free all female prisoners in Iraq to help win her release.
