BBC journalists worldwide will today mark World Press Freedom Day with a rally calling for the release in Gaza of kidnapped journalist Alan Johnston.
The rally, led by the BBC's World Editor Jon Williams, will begin outside the United Nations Plaza in New York at 7pm UK time.
BBC journalist Alan Johnston has been missing since March 12th. Image: BBC/PA.
Mr Johnston's colleagues in the BBC's 41 offices across the world will also join the call for his swift and safe return. The Scot (44) has been missing for 52 days, making him the longest-held journalist in Gaza.
He has not been seen or heard from since his disappearance in Gaza City on March 12th.
BBC director-general Mark Thompson said: "Alan Johnston is a remarkable, courageous journalist who stayed in Gaza because he believes the story of Gaza needs to be told.
In Ireland yesterday, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and the chairman of the Irish Council of Imams, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, made a plea for the reporter's release.
It was the first occasion on which the leader of the largest Muslim community in Ireland and the country's Catholic primate have publicly co-operated in this way.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government was doing everything it could to facilitate the release of the journalist, saying there was "no conceivable reason" for him to be kept hostage.