London, Feb 28 (IANS) British photographer Paul Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier, wounded in an attack in Syria that killed two other journalists last week, have been smuggled out of the country and are now safe in Lebanon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday.
Syrian activists risked their lives for six nights to smuggle Conroy to Lebanon, a spokesman for Avaaz, an international activist network, told CNN.
Three people were killed in shelling as they tried to assist the journalists through the Baba Amr area, and 10 died bringing relief supplies into the neighbourhood.
Two award-winning journalists, Marie Colvin from the US and Remi Ochlik from France, were killed in last week’s attack.
Conroy’s wife, Kate, told CNN she was “overjoyed with the news”.
The photographer’s newspaper, the Sunday Times, said he was safe in Lebanon.
“He is in good shape and good spirits,” the newspaper said in a statement.
The BBC said Conroy had received “three large wounds” to his leg and Bouvier suffered multiple leg fractures.
The Syrian activist group, Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), said on its Facebook page that Bouvier and other foreign journalists had refused to leave Homs until the Syrian regime guaranteed their photographs and recordings would not be confiscated.
The UN Human Rights Council has called an emergency session in Geneva to discuss a confidential report delivered by a UN panel of experts that lists Syrian army officers and government officials who could be investigated for crimes against humanity.
