Rome ? A few hundred people gathered in downtown Rome on Saturday to demand the release of an Afghan interpreter kidnapped along with an Italian reporter weeks ago.

The rally in Piazza Navona was organized by Emergency, an Italian aid group in Afghanistan.

Emergency played a key role in the release of La Repubblica journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan on March 5 and freed after two weeks. His Afghan driver was beheaded and the whereabouts of the interpreter, Adjimal Nashkbandi, is unknown.

The Rome demonstration also demanded the release of an Afghan man who works for Emergency and is believed to have been held by Afghan authorities since the journalist’s release. The man, Rahmatullah Hanefi, works in a hospital operated by Emergency in Lashkar Gah, in southern Afghanistan, according to the Italian aid group.