Giovanni Lo Porto's friends break cover two years after his kidnap in Pakistan
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Version 0 of 1. Friends of a London student who was kidnapped in Pakistan almost two years ago have spoken for the first time about their growing fears for his safety. Giovanni Lo Porto, 38, who studied at London Metropolitan University, travelled to the Punjab region in January 2012 to take up a position as a humanitarian aid worker. But soon after his arrival Lo Porto and a German colleague, Bernd Mühlenbeck, were abducted. Apart from one short video appeal by Mühlenbeck released last Christmas, neither man has been heard from. Sarah Neal, a fellow student and close friend of Lo Porto, said: "I am incredibly worried about him. It's been 22 months now and we have no way of knowing how his captors treat him. I just want him back." Staff and students from London Met have not spoken out until now in the hope that the authorities in Italy, where Lo Porto was born, would be able to negotiate his release. But after almost two years without news, they have decided to break their silence. "When Giovanni was abducted we hoped that he would be returned through quiet diplomacy," said Professor Mike Newman, who taught Lo Porto at London Met. "But he has now been held in Pakistan for nearly two years and we agree with his friends and supporters in Italy who are calling for an end to the policy of silence." After graduating from the peace and conflict studies course at London Met in 2010, Lo Porto, an experienced aid worker, joined short-term projects in the Central African Republic and Haiti before travelling to Pakistan to help rebuild an area hit by severe flooding. According to friends, he fell in love with the region and worked to improve water supplies and sanitation in the Punjab, returning again at the beginning of 2012. Newman last heard from Lo Porto when he got in touch shortly after arriving in Pakistan. "He told me: 'I'm happy to be back in Asia and Pakistan, I do love the people, the culture and the food of this part of the world'," said Newman. "Pakistan was his real love and he felt he had done a good job there establishing positive relations with the local population and staff. He was so delighted to be back." Newman said Giovanni is a "warm, friendly, open-minded person" who was very popular with staff and students. "He enriched the discussions for all of us by drawing on his varied experience of working in complex situations in many parts of the world. His approach was always questioning and he certainly had no time for simplistic western policy agendas," said Newman. Neal said Lo Porto was an incredibly supportive friend and went out of his way to help others. "He came to London Met on the day we had to hand in our dissertation purely to help others – he'd already submitted his thesis the day before. So that's what he did: he edited, proof-read, and helped bind them until submission closed. "He is incredibly loyal to his friends and shows that in many small and big ways, you can always rely on him." She said his friends were growing increasingly concerned about his well-being. "I am worried that they'll break him – physically and mentally," Neal said. "Although sometimes I think that if anyone could be friends with his captors, it would be Giovanni." Lo Porto's friends have now launched a petition for his return and are calling on anyone with influence to help secure his release. Newman said: "It is tragic that such people, with both expertise and a genuine passion for humanitarian work, should be held in this way. On this anniversary of their seizure in Multan, I call on all those who have influence in the area to bring about the return of Giovanni Lo Porto and Bernd Mühlenbeck to their friends and families." The Farnesina, Italy's foreign ministry, declined to comment. Its crisis unit is in contact with Lo Porto's family but the authorities are understood to want to maintain as much discretion as possible surrounding the case due to its "very delicate" nature. In Italy, a petition calling on the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, and the prime minister, Enrico Letta, to ensure "all possible efforts" are made to bring about Lo Porto's release has been signed by nearly 48,000 people. But Pietro Barbieri, chairman of the National Third Sector Forum (FNTS) and one of the people who drafted the petition, said that in general the case has received very little attention in Italy, and that this was the reason why the petition was so necessary. "He is not a journalist for a big newspaper. He is not a member of a big Italian NGO. He is not a member of the military. He is an Italian citizen – capable, on the ball – who, at the same time, however, works for a foreign NGO," he said. "There is no one [in public] pushing it [his case]." Urging Letta to enter into the efforts personally, Barbieri said that he had received a letter from the foreign ministry assuring him that "every effort" was being made and that the case was being treated as a priority. But, he said, the time had come for Letta to act. "He has every possibility to do so," Barbieri said. He added: "We believe our country has to take charge, but not only the institutions but the media, the opinion-formers, the population in general. It is absurd that the Lo Porto case is never discussed. "This is someone who has been in captivity for nearly two years now. He is, among other things, an expert; not some kind of tourist, but someone with internationally recognised abilities." Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |