The AFT received word on April 16 that AFT member Sandy Cioffi, a documentary filmmaker and professor at Seattle Central Community College, has been released by Nigerian authorities to American Embassy personnel in the capital of Abuja.

Cioffi and three colleagues working with her on a documentary about oil production in the Niger Delta region were detained by Nigeria security forces on April 12 for reportedly violating a ban against outsiders traveling without a military escort to the area, which is the site of frequent militant attacks against oil installations.

The U.S. ambassador in Abuja told Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell that the four will spend two nights in a hotel before final processing by Nigerian authorities.

Cioffi is a former vice president of the AFT Seattle Community Colleges Local 1789 who has been on sabbatical this year. When AFT Seattle president Lynne Dodson got word on April 14 of Cioffi's detention, she notified the college community, which then flooded their representatives with calls and e-mail.

AFT president Edward J. McElroy had written a letter to the president of Nigeria "to express our concern over the immediate safety and welfare" of Cioffi and her colleagues.

"Of immediate concern are reports that the group has so far been unable to contact legal representation, nor communicate with family in the United States," McElroy wrote. "We therefore request that federal and local authorities ensure the safety of Professor Cioffi and her colleagues and that they are treated fairly under the law and given access to legal and consular representation in accordance with international convention."

According to Cioffi's filmmaking company, the Americans entered Nigeria legally on April 5 and had notified authorities about their intentions to film and to visit a library they had helped build. Leslye Wood, a spokesperson for Sweet Crude Movie (the name of the film) told the Seattle Times that this was Cioffi's fourth trip to Nigeria, and that the filmmaker understood the dangers of entering the country. Cioffi had never encountered problems on previous trips, Wood said, and the group was "quite diligent about being transparent on their visa applications about their purpose for entering the country."

Cantwell and fellow Washington Sen. Patty Murray were among 14 members of Congress who signed a letter to Nigerian president Umaru Musa Yar'Adua urging the immediate release of the four filmmakers.

Dodson praised the responses of Sens. Cantwell and Murray, in particular, as well as local state and national representatives. She also expressed pride over the immediate and cohesive reaction of the college. "It is amazing how this terrifying, horrible event did bring people together."

April 18, 2008