Finally, late on Tuesday, January 17, came the first confirmation that Carroll had been alive recently, and possibly still was. Al Jazeera’s editor-in-chief called Washington Bureau Chief Cook. The Arab TV network had received a videotape of Carroll. Typically, Al Jazeera broadcast videotapes of hostages without contacting anyone first. However, the network called as a professional courtesy. Would the Monitor want to notify Carroll’s parents? Cook called the Boston office. Ingwerson then called the Jordan Times editor, whom he thought should appear on the air. In 30 minutes, al-Safadi was at the al Jazeera studio in Amman, Jordan.

Al Jazeera aired a 20-second segment of the videotape showing Carroll. She was speaking, but Al Jazeera did not broadcast the audio. She appeared tired but in good physical condition. The kidnappers demanded that US authorities release all Iraqi women prisoners by Friday, January 20. If they did not comply, the kidnappers would kill Carroll. Although they did not identify themselves overtly, a still shot from the videotape contained the words “Brigade of Revenge,” an unknown group. After the clip was shown, Al Jazeera cut to the television studio in Amman for commentary by the Jordan Times editor.

Watch the first video as it appeared on Al Jazeera

Ingwerson felt more hopeful than he had since the kidnapping. Carroll was alive for the taping. On the other hand, he realized that meant very little, as the video was undated. “You never know when [the videos] were taken because it could take weeks for them to emerge,” he says.

Public response. The video did bring one benefit. Combined with the Monitor’s Arab media outreach campaign, it sparked a flurry of public condemnations of Carroll’s kidnappers. The next day, Adnan al-Dulaimi, the Sunni political leader who had cancelled his appointment with Carroll the morning of her kidnapping, called for her release. He held a news conference in his office at the headquarters of the General Conference of the Iraqi People and stated:

By kidnapping her you are insulting me. You’re insulting the work that I’ve been doing for Iraq. To the men who are kidnapping her: You know that the woman has a special status in our religion, our culture, and our principles. I’m asking those men who have kidnapped her to release her unconditionally, and I promise, with the help of God, to work on releasing Iraqi prisoners in Iraqi and American jails. ^[20]

Watch Murphy describe getting statements from Muslim leaders

Others made appeals : the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Liberties Committee of the Egyptian Lawyer’s Syndicate, and the militant Palestinian organization, Hamas. On January 19, eight Egyptian human rights groups released a joint statement. Also calling for her freedom were Iraq’s Muslim Scholars Association, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, and the Iraq Journalists’ League.

Watch Bergenheim discuss how the kidnapping became a big issue in Iraq