James Brandon (born 20 September 1980) is a British journalist, most recently working in Iraq freelance on assignment from the Sunday Telegraph and The Scotsman, covering the occupation and insurgency. Events 451 - The Battle of Chalons takes place in North Eastern France. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Journalism is the profession of writing or communicating formally employed by publications and broadcasters for the benefit of a particular Community of people For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The Sunday Telegraph is a British Broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1961 The Scotsman is a Scottish national Newspaper, published in Edinburgh. The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign The Iraqi insurgency is composed of diverse mix of militias foreign fighters all Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the US-led Coalition in Iraq During this assignment, he was kidnapped and held hostage, but eventually released.
Brandon was educated at Westminster School and then the University of York, where he read history and graduated in 2001 with first class honours. The Royal College of St Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain 's leading boys' Independent schools with The University of York is a Campus university in the city of York, England. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. He subsequently spent four months working for the Yemen Times as a sub-editor and reporter, when he learned Arabic. The Yemen Times is unified Yemen 's first and most widely-read independent English-language Newspaper. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language He then enrolled in the School of Oriental and African Studies, reading "modern trends in political Islam", before joining the Baghdad Bulletin in July 2003, a start-up, non-aligned Iraqi paper staffed mainly by Oxbridge graduates, especially those from his school, and offering a variety of widely differing viewpoints on recent events. The School of Oriental and African Studies (commonly abbreviated to " SOAS " pronounced (so as or (so az is a constituent college of the University of The Baghdad Bulletin was an independent bimonthly English-language news magazine first published on 9 June 2003. July 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of '''Ox'''ford and the University of Cam'''bridge''' in England, and the term is now
Born to an Egyptian Coptic Christian father, Ramsay Nassim, Brandon changed his surname by deed poll in 2001.
At roughly 23:00 local time, on August 13, 2004 in Basra, Brandon was snatched from his room at the Diafa hotel by about 30 masked gunmen, some in police uniform. Events 3114 BC - According to the Lounsbury correlation the start of the Maya calendar. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Later a video tape was released, featuring Brandon and a hooded militant, threatening to kill him within 24 hours unless US forces withdrew from Najaf, where they had cordoned off Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Najaf ( BGN: An Najaf) is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Hojatoleslam Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr or Moktada al Sadr ( ar سيد مقتدى الصدر Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr) (born August 12, This page describes the Shia Mahdi Army of contemporary Iraq for the Sunni Mahdi Army of Nineteenth Century Sudan see Muhammad Ahmad. Brandon was released after less than a day, following intervention by Moqtada al-Sadr. At a press conference immediately after his release, Brandon commented on his treatment and thanked his kidnappers: "Initially I was treated roughly, but once they knew I was a journalist I was treated very well and I want to say thank you to the people who kidnapped me. " A spokesman for al-Sadr said: "We apologise for what happened to you. This is not our tradition, not our rules. It is not the tradition of Islam. " [1], [2]
In a Sunday Telegraph feature, Brandon gives a detailed account of the kidnap. The Sunday Telegraph is a British Broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1961 He describes being beaten and pistol-whipped by his angry kidnappers, as well as a series of mock executions. He recounts escaping, after holding a woman at knife-point, to a government building where sympathetic guards helped him, but his evasion attempt failed when his kidnappers found him. Although he expected to be killed, the video with the ultimatum was then recorded. Despite being told repeatedly that he was a journalist, his kidnappers appear to have assumed he was a spy or agent for the occupation. Iraq War|2007 in Iraq|2008 in IraqThe post-invasion period in Iraq It was only when they saw a report about the kidnap on al-Arabiya television that his kidnappers came to believe him. Al Arabiya (العربية) is an Arabic-language Television News channel Brandon's treatment improved markedly and he was told he was going to be released. Later he was taken to Sadr’s Basra office where the press conference took place. Brandon was delivered to the British military police who gave him medical treatment and escorted him to Kuwait the following day. The State of Kuwait ( دولة الكويت IPA [dawlatt̪ alkuwajt̪]) is a sovereign Arab Emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed Brandon plans to see his family and go on holiday, but wants to return to Iraq : "Only next time, I just want to do the reporting. I have no desire to be the story again. " [3]
References
- The Sunday Telegraph "I heard the terrifying click of the trigger in my first mock execution" August 15 (free but requires subscription)
- The Guardian - "Briton's release ordered by rebel cleric", August 14
- The Daily Telegraph - "British journalist freed by Sadr", August 14
- The Daily Telegraph - "Reporter knew risks of life in war zone", August 14
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