THE CHAIN LOCKER
MV ICEBERG - click photo for TheNational story about crew's treatment
After 122 weeks - that's 2 years, 4 months and (endlessly) counting - the 22 surviving sailors on MV ICEBERG are still captive. Still captive, still held almost incommunicado, and still subject to beatings and abuse, according to their families.
And - most painfully - they're still being ignored! Especially by those who should be morally charged with obtaining their release, including their employer and their own national governments. It seems the only folks who haven't forgotten these men are their families - and of course the pirates who hold them.
(To recap their story to date click "Iceberg 1" and "Iceberg I Movie" in the "Categories" listing to the right of the page. And for an excellent video about the human side of the piracy problem, click "Piracy The Human Cost Video" in that same list. Those posts also hold links to other resources about the captives.)
I know I just put up a post about MV ICEBERG a short time ago. And there's no breaking news to report. But tonight I came across a reference to Ansar Burney, the Pakastani lawyer and activist who played a role in the release of MV SUEZ last year.
At that time, July 2011, it was reported that for his next project Burney would try to negotiate release of the seamen of MV ICEBERG I. Here is a news story from TheNational to that effect that was published last year - it's over a year old.
Hope rose on that announcement. Mr. Burney had won praise for the job he did in breaking the MV SUEZ stalemate. He had even raised money from private citizens all over Pakistan for the cause. So it looked like his involvement in the MV ICEBERG I negotiations would signal an end to the cruel status quo for those captive seamen.
But that's essentially the last I've heard. News searches on the Web yield nothing but old news. What became of Mr. Burney's mission? Like the rest of the MV ICEBERG I story, it seems to have sunk into inaction and obscurity.
So I'm appealing to seamen everywhere! Have you seen later or better information about MV ICEBERG I, Ansar Burney's mission, or other info about this tragically murky saga? Please enlighten the rest of us with links and info.
And as always, keep doing what you can to put the shameful MV ICEBERG I story front & center. Let the rest of us know what we can do to help in your efforts - concerted action gets results!
Being held in close captivity under inhuman conditions is cruel. Being beaten and mistreated in that captivity is even worse. But being ignored for years at a time while this is going on is unconscionable!
Let's raise the heat on those who feel they can discount the humanity of these men - our own humanity is diminished if we fail to do what we can.
And - most painfully - they're still being ignored! Especially by those who should be morally charged with obtaining their release, including their employer and their own national governments. It seems the only folks who haven't forgotten these men are their families - and of course the pirates who hold them.
(To recap their story to date click "Iceberg 1" and "Iceberg I Movie" in the "Categories" listing to the right of the page. And for an excellent video about the human side of the piracy problem, click "Piracy The Human Cost Video" in that same list. Those posts also hold links to other resources about the captives.)
I know I just put up a post about MV ICEBERG a short time ago. And there's no breaking news to report. But tonight I came across a reference to Ansar Burney, the Pakastani lawyer and activist who played a role in the release of MV SUEZ last year.
At that time, July 2011, it was reported that for his next project Burney would try to negotiate release of the seamen of MV ICEBERG I. Here is a news story from TheNational to that effect that was published last year - it's over a year old.
Hope rose on that announcement. Mr. Burney had won praise for the job he did in breaking the MV SUEZ stalemate. He had even raised money from private citizens all over Pakistan for the cause. So it looked like his involvement in the MV ICEBERG I negotiations would signal an end to the cruel status quo for those captive seamen.
But that's essentially the last I've heard. News searches on the Web yield nothing but old news. What became of Mr. Burney's mission? Like the rest of the MV ICEBERG I story, it seems to have sunk into inaction and obscurity.
So I'm appealing to seamen everywhere! Have you seen later or better information about MV ICEBERG I, Ansar Burney's mission, or other info about this tragically murky saga? Please enlighten the rest of us with links and info.
And as always, keep doing what you can to put the shameful MV ICEBERG I story front & center. Let the rest of us know what we can do to help in your efforts - concerted action gets results!
Being held in close captivity under inhuman conditions is cruel. Being beaten and mistreated in that captivity is even worse. But being ignored for years at a time while this is going on is unconscionable!
Let's raise the heat on those who feel they can discount the humanity of these men - our own humanity is diminished if we fail to do what we can.
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