Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi

Last updated
Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi
Directed by Ian Olds
Release date
  • 2009 (2009)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States

Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi is a documentary by Ian Olds that shows the kidnapping of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi and the events leading to the release of the former and the murder of the latter by the Taliban. [1]

Contents

The Taliban eventually freed Mastrogiacomo [2] on 19 March 2007 in exchange for the release of five Taliban prisoners. Naqshbandi was not released, and on 8 April 2007 he was beheaded. [3]

Olds won Best New Documentary Filmmaker 2009 at the Tribeca Film Festival for the film.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Parenti</span> American investigative journalist, academic, and author

Christian Parenti is an American investigative journalist, academic, and author.

<i>Bacha bazi</i> Afghan form of sexual child abuse

Bacha bāzī is a practice in which men buy and keep adolescent boys for entertainment and sex. It is a custom in Afghanistan and in historical Turkestan and often involves sexual slavery and child prostitution by older men of young adolescent males.

Fixer or The Fixer may refer to:

Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi, was a media spokesman for the Taliban between January 2004 until his capture in October 2005 by Pakistani security forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dadullah</span> Afghan Taliban commander (1966–2007)

Dadullah was the Taliban's most senior militant commander in Afghanistan until his death in 2007. He was also known as Maulavi or Mullah Dadullah Akhund. He also earned the nickname of Lang, meaning "lame", because of a leg he lost during fighting.

Gabriele Torsello is an Italian freelance journalist and photojournalist based in London who was abducted in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on 12 October 2006. Kosovar businessman Behgjet Pacolli played a major role in negotiating Torsello's release on 3 November 2006. Torsello is a Muslim convert, and author of The Heart of Kashmir.

Daniele Mastrogiacomo is an Italian-Swiss journalist and a war correspondent for la Repubblica newspaper.

Rahmatullah Hanefi is a citizen of Afghanistan. Rahmatullah worked for an Italian charity named "Emergency", where he was the national staff manager of a hospital the charity ran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mansoor Dadullah</span> Former senior military commander of the Taliban

Mullah Mansoor Dadullah was Mullah Dadullah's younger half-brother who succeeded him as a senior military commander of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. He came from the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, and belonged to the Kakar Pashtun tribe.

Events from the year 2007 in Afghanistan.

Sean Langan is a British journalist and documentary film-maker. Langan works in dangerous and volatile situations; including environments noted for war, conflict and civil unrest. In 2008 he was kidnapped along with his translator while filming in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. They were freed three months later after Langan's family had negotiated their release.

Kidnapping and hostage taking has become a common occurrence in Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Kidnappers include Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters and common criminal elements.

Mellissa Fung is a Canadian journalist with CBC News, appearing regularly as a field correspondent on The National.

Sultan Mohammad Munadi was an Afghan journalist, reporter, production manager and translator. He worked for the International Red Crescent, The New York Times and Afghan state radio at various times during his career in journalism. Munadi was killed by friendly fire on 9 September 2009 in a British Special Boat Service special forces raid meant to rescue Stephen Farrell and Munadi, who were both captured by Taliban forces near Kunduz four days earlier.

Events from the year 2009 in Afghanistan

Ajmal is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:

This is a list of known foreign hostages in Pakistan.

Ian Olds is an American film director. His directing credits include the documentary Occupation: Dreamland, which follows the 1/505 company of the 82nd Airborne Division in Fallujah, Iraq in early 2004 during the Iraq War. Olds also created the documentary Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi, which depicts the working relationship between American journalist Christian Parenti and his Afghan colleague Ajmal Naqshbandi during the War in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Karen Fischer and Christian Struwe</span> German journalists who were shot in Afghanistan

Death of Karen Fischer and Christian Struwe is about two German journalists working for Deutsche Welle who were shot on 7 October 2006 in a tent they had pitched alongside a road near Baghlan in Afghanistan, while they were doing research for a freelance documentary. They were the first foreign journalists killed after the 2001 invasion in the War in Afghanistan

A fixer is someone who carries out assignments for or is skillful at solving problems for others. The term has different meanings in different contexts. In British usage, the term is neutral, meaning "the sort of person who solves problems and gets things done". In journalism, a fixer is a local person who expedites the work of a correspondent working in a foreign country. Use in American English implies that methods used to conceal their clients' identities or potential scandals are almost certainly of questionable morality, if not legality. A fixer who disposes of bodies or "cleans up" physical evidence of crime is often more specifically called a cleaner. In sports, the term describes someone who makes arrangements to manipulate or pre-arrange the outcome of a sporting contest.

References

  1. Catsoulis, Jeannette (2010-03-09). "Movie Review - 'Fixer - The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi' - Ian Olds Documents an Interpreter's Fate in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
  2. "Taliban: Kidnapped Italian Journalist Released -- china.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  3. "Taleban kill Afghanistan reporter". BBC News. 2007-04-08.