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Nigeria ends N.Y. filmmaker Berends’ detention
By Leah Rae
The Journal News • September 6, 2008

After six days of detention in Nigeria, New York documentary filmmaker Andrew Berends was released last night to U.S. Embassy custody with the hope that his case is nearing resolution, his colleagues announced.

An award-winning journalist who grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, Berends was working on a film about conflicts in Nigeria’s oil-producing Delta region when he was detained Sunday night, charged with spying and subjected to long interrogations. He is required to return to the Nigerian State Security Services on Monday for what is expected to be routine processing, according to Aaron Soffin, a filmmaking colleague in New York City who is coordinating efforts toward his release.

“We’re very pleased we have gotten to this stage,” he said last night, having spoken briefly with Berends. “Mostly he’s just hoping for a speedy resolution to everything.”

Soffin announced the news on a blog devoted to efforts on behalf of his friend.

“Andrew’s family, friends and colleagues are relieved and happy to hear of this progress and appreciate the hard work on many fronts to get to this point,” Soffin wrote. “We trust that his final processing on Monday will be expedient and routine. We are anxious for confirmation that he is safely on his way out of the country.”

His mother, Polly Berrian Berends, who lives in Putnam Valley, also had a statement: “Nothing will make me happier than to hear his voice, except to hug him.”

Andrew Berends, 36, had been filming women going to the market in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, citing e-mails Berends had sent to his editor. The e-mails said that he had received permission to film in the area, CPJ reported, in contrast to the Nigerian military’s claim that Berends was filming a military deployment without permission. Berends was released briefly after 36 hours and ordered to return for interrogations each morning for the next three days.

He was moved from Port Harcourt to the Nigerian capital of Abuja yesterday. A Nigerian translator, Samuel George, and a local businessman were held in Port Harcourt and also have been released with orders to reappear Monday.

Earlier yesterday, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. added her voice to the appeals for Berends’ release.

“I appreciate the efforts by the State Department to track the whereabouts and monitor the treatment of Mr. Berends, as well as the Department’s effort to keep Mr. Berends’ family and loved ones informed of his status,” she wrote. “However, the situation is untenable and must be resolved as soon as possible. I urge you to press Nigerian authorities - specifically the State Security Services in Port Harcourt - to immediately bring to an end Mr. Berends’ detention and to secure his safe and prompt return to the United States.”
A groundswell of support was helping to push others in Congress to write to the Nigerian president and the U.S. Embassy, said Tom Rhodes, Africa program coordinator for CPJ.

“Nigeria’s democratic government has made enormous strides since the days of dictator Sani Abacha, when dozens of Nigerian journalists were arrested and held under terrible conditions,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a news release. “Detaining journalists for doing their job is unbefitting of the country’s new leaders. We hope that the ordeal of Andrew Berends and Samuel George will soon be over.”

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