ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, was an armed Basque nationalist and far-left separatist organization in the Basque Country between 1959 and 2018, with its goal being independence for the region. The group was founded in 1959 during the era of Francoist Spain, and later evolved from a pacifist group promoting traditional Basque culture to a violent paramilitary group. It engaged in a campaign of bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings throughout Spain and especially the Southern Basque Country against the regime, which was highly centralised and hostile to the expression of non-Castilian minority identities. ETA was the main group within the Basque National Liberation Movement and was the most important Basque participant in the Basque conflict.
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will. Kidnapping is typically but not necessarily accomplished by use of force or fear; i.e., it also usually involves menace/assault or/and battery; but it is still kidnapping without those additional elements, or if a person is enticed to enter the vehicle or dwelling willingly. Motives for kidnappings vary. Criminal gangs and insurgent groups may engage in kidnappings for economic reasons, to exert territorial control, to generate support, or as bargaining leverage.
Man on Fire is a 2004 action thriller film directed by Tony Scott from a screenplay by Brian Helgeland, and based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell. The novel had previously been adapted into a feature film in 1987. Denzel Washington portrays John Creasy, a despondent, alcoholic former CIA SAD/SOG officer turned bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Lupita "Pita" Ramos, is abducted in Mexico City. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke.
Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, SDB is a retired Chinese cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2009. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 and has been outspoken on issues regarding human rights, political freedom, and religious liberty.
Michael Dibdin was a British crime fiction writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy.
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored kidnapping in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had the purpose of circumventing the source country's laws on interrogation, detention, extradition and/or torture. Extraordinary rendition is a type of extraterritorial abduction, but not all extraterritorial abductions include transfer to a third country.
Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man abducts and rapes the woman he wishes to marry.
Frederic Lindsay was a Scottish crime writer, who was born in Glasgow and lived in Edinburgh. He was a full-time writer from 1979 and previously worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant. He was active in a number of literary organisations including the Society of Authors, International PEN and the Scottish Arts Council. In addition to novels he also wrote for TV, radio and the theatre. Two of his novels have been made into films.
Vendetta is a 1990 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the second book in the popular Aurelio Zen series.
Dead Lagoon is a 1994 novel by Michael Dibdin and is the fourth in his Aurelio Zen series. It was published by Faber & Faber in the UK and by Pantheon Books the following year in the US.
Cosi Fan Tutti is a novel by Michael Dibdin published by Faber and Faber in 1996. The fifth in his Aurelio Zen series, it is set in Naples. One strand of the plot plays on the storyline of the Mozart comic opera Così fan tutte; in addition, the chapter titles are all taken from the Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto for that opera.
A Long Finish is a 1998 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the sixth entry in the Aurelio Zen series.
Blood Rain is a novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the seventh in the Aurelio Zen series. It was published in 1999 by Faber & Faber. In it Zen, an Italian police detective, is pitted against the Sicilian Mafia and at the end is the subject of a bombing attack for political reasons.
Medusa is a 2003 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the ninth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series about an Italian police detective.
Back to Bologna is a 2005 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the tenth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series.
The Abu Omar Case was the abduction and transfer to Egypt of the Imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. The case was picked by the international media as one of the better-documented cases of extraordinary rendition carried out in a joint operation by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) in the context of the global war on terrorism declared by the George W. Bush administration.
End Games is a 2007 novel by Michael Dibdin. It is the 11th and last entry in the Aurelio Zen series.
On 19 February 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Louise Matthews was reported missing in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. The search for her became a major missing person police operation which was compared to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Shannon was found alive and well on 14 March 2008 at a Batley Carr house belonging to 39-year-old Michael Donovan. Donovan was the uncle of Craig Meehan, the boyfriend of the kidnapped girl's mother, Karen Matthews.
Zen is a British television series produced by Left Bank Pictures for the BBC, co-produced with WGBH Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series, Mediaset and ZDF. It stars Rufus Sewell and Caterina Murino and is based on the Aurelio Zen detective novels by Michael Dibdin. The series was filmed on location in Italy, but the dialogue is in English. The series, which comprises three 90-minute films, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings from 2 January 2011 on BBC One. The three films were based on the books Vendetta (1990), Cabal (1992) and Ratking (1988). The series was cancelled by BBC One in February 2011; BBC One controller Danny Cohen later said there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV. Left Bank, the show's producer, tried to find other broadcasters to fund another series but were unsuccessful.
Giulio Regeni was an Italian PhD student at Cambridge University who was kidnapped in Cairo on 25 January 2016, the fifth anniversary of the Tahrir Square protests, and found dead on 3 February near an Egyptian secret service prison. His body showed clear signs of torture; in particular, some letters of the alphabet had been engraved on his skin with sharp objects, and this practice of torture had been widely documented as a distinctive trait of the Egyptian police. This evidence immediately put Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's regime under accusation.
