Italian hostages released in Iraq

[Talon]

Italian hostages released in Iraq

Two Italian female aid workers held hostage in Iraq for the last three weeks have been released.

They were handed over to the Italian Red Cross in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, and are in good health, officials said.

Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who were seized in their Baghdad office on 7 September, are on their way to Italy.

Separately, an Egyptian telecoms company said four of its six workers who had been held hostage in Iraq have also been set free.

The first one, Alaa Maqaar, was reported to have been released on Monday, but his company Orascom Telecom only confirmed he was free on Tuesday morning.

"The company is continuing its strenuous efforts to free the remaining hostages as quickly as possible," a company statement said.

Two French journalists, apparently captured by the same group as the two Italians, are still being held while there is no news of UK hostage Ken Bigley, who has been threatened with beheading.

On Monday, an Iranian diplomat kidnapped nearly two months ago was freed.

About 30 other foreigners, including several from Arab countries, are still being held.

Pope's thanks

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the two women, both aged 29, were expected to return to Italy later on Tuesday.

The Italian Red Cross said the plane carrying them would arrive in Rome at 2230 (2030 GMT), Reuters news agency reports.

The two Iraqi aid workers - Raad Ali Aziz and Mahnaz Bassam - seized with the two women had also been freed, Mr Berlusconi said.

Mr Berlusconi described the release of the two women as a "moment of joy".

"The two girls are well and will be able to return to their loved ones tonight," he told Parliament in Rome to cheers from MPs.

Al-Jazeera showed footage of the women after their release, wearing black veils, smiling and chatting.

Pope John Paul II expressed his "great joy" at news of the release.

"His thoughts also go to the families and with them all persons of good will, thanking God for this humanitarian gesture," a papal spokesman said.

'Overwhelmingly happy'

Simona Torretta's family reacted swiftly on Italian television, expressing their joy at the news she had survived her ordeal.

"We've spoken to the Baghdad ambassador. The information is 100% certain and we are already celebrating," said Annamaria Torretta, her mother, on Italian television.

"I'm so happy, overwhelmingly happy," said Simona Pari's father, Luciano, from his home in Rimini on the Adriatic coast. "This was the news I had been hoping for.

"I wish to take this opportunity to thank you and to thank the entire Arab world, who proved their friendship to us and to Italy, especially at these difficult times," he told al-Jazeera television.

The two women were working for the aid agency A Bridge to Baghdad and had been involved in school and water projects.

The fate of both aid workers captured the hearts of Italians this month and over the last week itself there has been a rollercoaster of emotions, says the BBC's Guto Harri in Rome.

Pictures of the two were hung on Rome's Capitol building, while tens of thousands of Italians took part in candle-lit vigils and sent messages of solidarity to their families.

Initial reports suggested they had both been killed, followed by reports, first from Kuwait then from Jordan, suggesting they were alive and well and would be released, our correspondent says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3698196.stm

[Fluffybunny]

I didn't think that would happen, that is good; I am glad to see it.

[Talon]

Italy 'paid $1m to free hostages'

A senior Italian politician says he believes that a ransom of $1m or more was paid for the release of two female Italian aid workers kidnapped in Iraq.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said no money was paid.

But Gustavo Selva, head of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the denial was purely "official".

The BBC's Guto Harri in Rome says Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has fuelled the rumours by talking of "a difficult choice which had to be made".

"The young women's life was the most important thing," Mr Selva, a member of the Northern League, one of the parties in Italy's governing coalition, told French RTL radio.

"In principle, one should not give in to blackmail, but this time I think we had to give in - even though this opens a dangerous path because it is obvious that both for political or criminal reasons, this path can make others want to take others hostage to make some money."

Meanwhile, British hostage Ken Bigley has appeared in a new video aired by Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera.

Squatting down in a cage and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Mr Bigley said his captors did not want to kill him, and he accused UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of ignoring his plight.

Italian controversy

The allegations of an Italian ransom, first made in a Kuwaiti newspaper, have been widely reported in the Italian media.

Security experts have told the BBC that money is likely to have played some part in the negotiations, but they also point to intensive behind-the-scenes negotiations on the part of the Italians.

Mr Berlusconi has spoken of 16 separate negotiations to free the women.

Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that two French journalists and UK hostage Ken Bigley could soon be freed.

Mr Bigley's family has taken hope from a message posted on an Arabic website, purported to be from the kidnappers, which said the hostage would be freed soon.

The message said Mr Bigley would be spared but warned others would be kidnapped and beheaded if foreign forces did not leave Iraq.

And a French negotiator says he has reached a deal with kidnappers to free journalists Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot.

The envoy, Philippe Brett, told al-Arabiya TV he had seen the two men, kidnapped on 21 August, and they would be released soon.

However, the French foreign ministry said it had no knowledge of any deal and said Mr Brett was not part of any official negotiations.

The UK Foreign Ministry said it was trying to establish whether the internet message about Mr Bigley was genuine.

'Treated with respect'

The two Italian women, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, flew back to Rome on Tuesday night to a rapturous welcome, after three weeks of captivity.

Two Iraqis seized with them on 7 September, and four Egyptian telecom workers taken in a separate kidnapping last week, have also been freed.

The two Simonas, as they have become known, appeared in good health as they arrived in Rome.

"There were times when we feared we'd be killed," Ms Torretta said. "But at other times we laughed together."

The women, both 29, told Italian officials they had been kept blindfolded for almost all the time and had never seen their captors' faces. They were kept together and in the same place all the time.

"We have been treated with a lot of respect," Ms Torretta told Italian news agencies.

Many different groups are thought to be operating in Iraq. Some are criminal gangs seeking ransoms, while others have made political demands.

The hardline group holding UK hostage Ken Bigley, the Tawhid and Jihad group, has beheaded two Americans seized with him. It has also been blamed for the deaths of previous hostages.

About 30 other foreigners, including several from Arab countries, are still being held, while several Iraqis have been kidnapped for ransom.

The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad no-one has precise figures of the number of Iraqis who have been abducted, but doctors, academics, businessmen, anyone with money, is at risk - as are their children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3700480.stm

[Celumnaz]

That would be terrible if they did pay a million. 2 lives for the cheap price of death to future generations. It gives them courage and the will to fight. The women were known to Iraqis, and well liked. Their death would have been an outrage and I think maybe those terrorists realized it, maybe.

I'm glad they're alive for sure, but I fear the cost will be more lives lost. They just got refinanced, and let some girls go... so they get some kudos from some people. Not me, but some people.

[Talon]

Maybe, but I don't think their families and families of other hostages would agree with the statement that their lives were a cheap price to pay to make a point.

[Talon]

Italian hostages tell of ordeal

The two Italian aid workers released by their captors in Iraq have said being together helped them through the worst of their ordeal.

"Our serenity much depended on our being together," Simona Torretta said at a press conference on Thursday.

She and Simona Pari were held for three weeks after being kidnapped from their offices in Baghdad.

They returned home on Tuesday to a hero's welcome. There have been claims that a ransom secured their release.

Italy has denied paying any money or negotiating with the hostage-takers.

But a senior politician said that was only an "official" denial, and that he believed $1m changed hands.

Italian Red Cross Commissioner Maurizio Scelli, who played a role in securing the women's release, emphatically denied that a ransom had been paid.

The two women - aid workers for the humanitarian group Bridge to Baghdad - thanked everyone involved in their release, from "the government" to "Muslim and Christian communities in Italy and the world".

Ms Torretta said they were treated "with dignity and respect" by their captors.

"They brought us soap and books on Islam, made us read the Koran, and taught us the principles of Islam," she said.

Ms Pari said: "We have always tried to unite two very different worlds, and we hope that dialogue will continue."

'Iraqis still hostage'

The pair said there were difficult times, particularly in the first few days after their capture.

"Being together gave us a lot of strength and helped us to overcome the most difficult moments," Ms Torretta said.

Fabio Alberti, the president of Bridge to Baghdad, said he hoped now his colleagues' ordeal was over, his organisation could get back to its work in Iraq.

"Now we'd like to go back... to helping the Iraqi people, who in a way are still being held a hostage - of the war."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3704604.stm

[Independent1]

Italian hostages tell of ordeal

The two Italian aid workers released by their captors in Iraq have said being together helped them through the worst of their ordeal.

"Our serenity much depended on our being together," Simona Torretta said at a press conference on Thursday.

She and Simona Pari were held for three weeks after being kidnapped from their offices in Baghdad.

They returned home on Tuesday to a hero's welcome. There have been claims that a ransom secured their release.

Italy has denied paying any money or negotiating with the hostage-takers.

But a senior politician said that was only an "official" denial, and that he believed $1m changed hands.

Italian Red Cross Commissioner Maurizio Scelli, who played a role in securing the women's release, emphatically denied that a ransom had been paid.

The two women - aid workers for the humanitarian group Bridge to Baghdad - thanked everyone involved in their release, from "the government" to "Muslim and Christian communities in Italy and the world".

Ms Torretta said they were treated "with dignity and respect" by their captors.

"They brought us soap and books on Islam, made us read the Koran, and taught us the principles of Islam," she said.

Ms Pari said: "We have always tried to unite two very different worlds, and we hope that dialogue will continue."

'Iraqis still hostage'

The pair said there were difficult times, particularly in the first few days after their capture.

"Being together gave us a lot of strength and helped us to overcome the most difficult moments," Ms Torretta said.

Fabio Alberti, the president of Bridge to Baghdad, said he hoped now his colleagues' ordeal was over, his organisation could get back to its work in Iraq.

"Now we'd like to go back... to helping the Iraqi people, who in a way are still being held a hostage - of the war."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3704604.stm

285724[/snapback]

First Spain, leaving Iraq after March 11th attacks. Now Italy, paying off terrorists. Notice how hostory repeats itself. 60 years ago, europe thoguht it could avoid war by appeasing Hitler.

[AztecInca]

Everybodies lives are worth something, but if the italian government did pay the ransom then it will just encourage the terrorists, rebels etc..... to keep doing it!

They cant start paying the ransomers everytime they kidnap someone otherwise the cost would be monumental and it will just continue.

We must eradicat these scum as quickly as possible, kidnappng innocent civilians is disgraceful!

[Guest Lottie]

I couldn't agree more AztecInca.

There are just going to be even more kidnappings if countries start paying ransoms, these terrorists are probably laughing already thinking 'easy money.' I am glad though the Italian women were freed regardless.