Wednesday, April 16, 2008

April 16, 2008 7:02 a.m. (3:02 p.m. Nigeria Time)

Dear Diary:
Day five begins for us...comes to a close for our dear ones. Still nothing of real substance. What is it that their captors want? If they told us, maybe we could produce it for them and they could set them free.

Friends have been so kind. Wondering what to do. I should tell them that they could write to their senators and congressmen. They could get that information by going to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ or the appropriate place for their state and http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml they could find the addresses for state and federal representatives. They could use similar verbiage that the family's used in their letter to Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice:

On Saturday, April 12 four American citizens (Sandy Cioffi, Tammi Sims, Cliff Worsham and Sean Porter) were detained by the Nigerian Government while working on a documentary film project in the Niger Delta. These four individuals are our family, our loved-ones and right now the central focus of our lives. They have now been detained for almost five days--without charges and without being allowed to speak with their attorney. They entered the country legally with the appropriate visas and travel documents, which were up to date and approved by the Nigerian Government in advance of their trip. They broke no laws and have not been charged with a crime. We cannot fathom the reasoning behind their continued detention and the refusal of the Nigerian Government to allow them to speak with their attorney. We urge you to strongly press for the immediate release of these American citizens.

Maybe we could envision our letters as arrows, pricking the collective conscious of their captors or at least the people who have some power to set them free...

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