BOSTON -- Al-Jazeera television aired a videotape of Boston-based journalist Jill Carroll Tuesday, more than a week after she was kidnapped in Iraq.

Carroll is a freelance journalist for the Christian Science Monitor who was abducted in Iraq 10 days ago.

An Arab television channel aired the 20-second silent tape with a message that gave the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or the journalist would be killed.

The tape showed the 28-year-old University of Massachusetts at Amherst graduate sitting in front of a white background and speaking, but her voice could not be heard. On the tape, Carroll is pale and appears tired.

"Jill is an innocent journalist and we respectfully ask that you please show her mercy and allow her to return home to her mother, sister and family," Carroll's family said in a statement. "Jill is a kind person whose love for Iraq and the Iraqi People are evident in her articles."

"They have seized an innocent person who is a great admirer of the Iraqi people. She is a professional journalist whose only goal has been to report truthfully about Iraq and to promote understanding. As an intelligent, dedicated, open-minded reporter, she has earned the respect of her Arab and Western peers," Christian Science Monitor editor Richard C. Bergenheim said in a statement late Tuesday.

Al-Jazeera would not tell The Associated Press how it received the tape, but issued its own statement calling for Carroll's release. An Al-Jazeera producer said no militant group's name was attached to the message that it was sent to the station with the tape on Tuesday.

Carroll has not been heard from since she was grabbed Jan. 7 in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods. Gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator.