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Europe
French Journalist Florence Aubenas Freed in Iraq
2005-06-13
Story noted yesterday, but ST's comments warmed my heart :-)
French Government denies that it paid ransom amid celebrations as journalist flies home to Paris
That's why it's in the sub-head.
PRESIDENT CHIRAC led a national outpouring of relief yesterday after the release of Florence Aubenas, a French journalist, and Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, her Iraqi assistant, after 157 days of captivity in Iraq. Mme Aubenas, 44, a reporter with Libération, the left-leaning newspaper, ...
as if there's any other kind,
... returned to Paris on a French military aircraft last night. M Chirac greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
Eeeew.
Looking thin but relaxed, Mme Aubenas recalled being held in a cellar in "difficult conditions", tied up and with little water. She told of being unbound recently and of being allowed to watch French television. She was moved to see a news summary marking her 140th day of captivity. "You're so happy to see that," she said.

She provided no information about the identity of her kidnappers and no details about her release.
Mm-hmm.
Why ST, you sound suspicious.
Antoine de Gaudemar, managing editor of Libération, said: "We are completely swept away with joy. It's a huge relief after five months of nightmare." Jacqueline Aubenas, the journalist's mother, said: "I thought I knew what the word happiness meant. That was nothing — it's much better than I thought." M Chirac called her on Saturday with the news but asked her to keep quiet.

Mr al-Saadi, 42, was driven to his family in Baghdad, where relatives and friends danced and slaughtered a Shia sheep in his honour.
That's just what I do, just as soon as me and 40 of my closest friends fire willy-nilly into the air with automatic weapons.
There were suggestions that M Chirac authorised the payment of a ransom to the kidnappers who were holding Mme Aubenas and her guide. Robert Menard, the secretary-general of the press freedom lobby group Reporters Without Borders, said that the hostage-takers had demanded $15 million (£8.3 million) within weeks of the disappearance of the journalist on January 5. However, the French Government denied that a ransom was paid. "There was absolutely no demand for money. No ransom was paid," Jean-François Cope, a spokesman, said.
Nothing to see here, move along!
I'd start looking for some wealthy terrorists with nice, shiny new weapons.
Analysts say that the French authorities are unlikely to have paid the full $15 million demanded by the gang that kidnapped Mme Aubenas and Mr al-Saadi.
Well sure, the French always know how to bargain at a market ...
In December two other French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, were freed after four months as hostages in Iraq. In their book on their ordeal, they said that the "going rate" for securing a Westerner's freedom was about $2 million.
Boy, Italy sure got hosed on the Giuliana Sgrena deal.
Bernard Bajolet, the French Ambassador to Iraq, said that the journalist and her assistant, who spent their first night of freedom on Saturday in a secure embassy building, were in good health and high spirits.

In France a national campaign, spearheaded by the media, kept "Florence and Hussein", as they were known, in the headlines and the Government under pressure. The DGSE, the French intelligence agency, which led the ransom rescue efforts, is believed to have established contact with a credible intermediary capable of transmitting the kidnappers' demands, and the French responses, within the past month. The agency will question Mme Aubenas over the next few days.
Posted by:ST

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Posted by: Farmers General   2005-06-13 14:45  

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Posted by: CrazyFool   2005-06-13 11:54  

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Posted by: Frank G   2005-06-13 10:07  

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Posted by: Jack is Back!   2005-06-13 08:59  

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Posted by: tu3031   2005-06-13 08:33  

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Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom   2005-06-13 02:33  

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