South African sound engineer Nic Greyling and Nigerian commentator Bowie Attamah were abducted at gunpoint on 1 March near the southern town of Owerri, Imo State. The journalists had been part of a team of 21 media professionals traveling to a local airport after covering a Nigerian Premier League football match for South African broadcaster M-Net/SuperSport.

M-Net/SuperSport spokeswoman Caroline Creasy confirmed to WAN-IFRA the release of the captive journalists. While welcoming the release, WAN-IFRA reminded the Nigerian authorities that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of violence.

Ms Creasy said Bowie Attamah was released on 5 March and Nick Greyling on 8 March. A third hostage, Alexander Effiong, escaped from his captors on 2 March.

WAN-IFRA is the global organisation for the world’s newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organisation groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.

The organisation was created through the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

The International Association of Sports Newspapers is the sports arm of WAN-IFRA. It exists to defend and promote the values of sport and the interests and freedom of the sport press.

Learn more about WAN-IFRA at www.wan-ifra.org or through the WAN-IFRA Magazine. For more on the IASN, please consult www.press-iasn.org.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France. Tel: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org.