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Iraq

UPDATE: Businessmen were behind kidnapping of Romanian journalists

2005-10-17

BUCHAREST- A wealthy Romanian-Syrian businessman and his American-Iraqi associate are accused of organising the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in March, a judicial source said. The Romanian-Syrian Omar Hayssam organised the abduction with his business partner Mohamed Munaf, an American of Iraqi origin, according to extracts of an indictment detailing the charges published by the Mediafax news agency. The Romanian justice ministry announced it was taking steps to extradite Munaf, who is in the custody of US authorities in Iraq. Hayssam was arrested in Bucharest in May when his role in the abduction came to light. The abduction would have allowed Hayssam to transfer large sums of money abroad at a time when he was under scrutiny for his business dealings, according to the indictment. Hayssam contacted Munaf to prepare the abduction of Marie Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of the Prima TV channel and Ovidiu Ohanesian of the daily Romania Libera, on the ground in Iraq. He then employed a "cell specialising in abductions" in Baghdad to carry it out. The cell later refused to release the hostages and Munaf as agreed. The hostages were held for 55 days before being released following negotiations. No ransom was paid. It later emerged that the hostages were held in the same place as the French journalist Florence Aubenas, who was held for five months after being abducted last January while reporting for the French daily Liberation.

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Iraq-Jordan

Romania Hostages Said Victims of Bad Plan

2005-06-07

Romania's president said Monday the three Romanian journalists who spent nearly two months in captivity in Iraq were victims of a botched kidnapping plan by their Iraqi-American guide and a Syrian-born businessman. President Traian Basescu, who headed a crisis team that worked to free the journalists, provided the first play-by-play account of the kidnapping at a news conference where he detailed contacts between Romanian negotiators and the kidnappers. The president revealed for the first time one of the tensest moments in the 55-day ordeal — when the captors said they were going to provide a Web site where they would broadcast footage of the hostages being decapitated. He also disclosed a Romanian offer to send humanitarian aid to win the captives' freedom as well as a demand by captors for Romania to try to intervene to win the freedom of some Iraqi prisoners. The president also criticized the three journalists for failing to follow security guidelines during their stay in Iraq. The kidnapping of Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, cameraman Sorin Miscoci and daily Romania Libera reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian shocked the Romanian public. They were freed on May 22 after 55 days in captivity. The president said authorities believe the three were kidnapped initially by a group put together by the Syrian-born businessman Omar Hayssam and his partner Mohammed Monaf, an Iraqi-American guide who organized the journalists' trip and translated for them. Though Monaf is suspected of orchestrating the kidnapping, the former hostages have said he was held with them the entire time. Romanian prosecutors have said the two men plotted the kidnapping while in Romania and the motivation for the ruse was that Hayssam, one of Romania's wealthiest businessman, was under investigation for financial wrongdoing and banned from leaving Romania. He apparently hoped that "saving" the journalists would help him get clemency, they said. Monaf allegedly carried out the kidnapping with the help of some friends, but lost control of the situation after a few days when a well organized Iraqi insurgent group intervened and took over the hostages, Basescu said.

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Europe

Romanian press turns hostile against ex-hostages

2005-06-01

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian journalists accused a private television station of exploiting the ordeal of three colleagues held hostage in Iraq for 55 days during their first news conference on Wednesday. Hundreds of Romanian journalists had organized solidarity marches demanding the release of the three, who were kidnapped on March 28 while on a trip to Baghdad together with their guide Mohamad Munaf. But sympathy turned into hostility during the news conference, after the three refused to answer questions about how they were released, saying the information was classified. Anger was compounded by the way private Prima TV, where two of the kidnapped journalists work, did not allow cameramen from other stations to film the conference held in front of a huge "Prima TV" logo and limited reporters' questions. "Shame on you for taking commercial advantage of this," Ziua newspaper foreign news editor Victor Roncea told Prima TV news editors sitting near the three ex-hostages. Reporters pounded the three with questions about their connections to their guide and the Romanian-Syrian businessman who planned and partly financed their trip. Both have been charged with setting up the abduction. "Munaf was with us in that cellar, he was crying," said Prima TV cameraman Sorin Miscoci, one of the former hostages. "It's hard to believe that a man can submit himself willingly to that treatment, you can't imagine how it was there." Miscoci, 30, Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, 32, and Romania Libera daily reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian, 37, returned to Romania on May 23 but Munaf, who has Iraqi and U.S. citizenship, remained in the hands of U.S. forces in Baghdad for questioning. The three were showed in a video aired by Al-Jazeera in April sitting on the floor barefoot and handcuffed. Ion asked Romanian authorities to pull out its 800 troops from Iraq. Romanian prosecutors charged Munaf and Romanian-Syrian businessman Omar Hayssam with the kidnapping, saying it was a plot to turn Hayssam into a hero in Romania in the hope that it would help him escape potential punishment for previous charges of organized crime and economic-financial wrongdoings. The three refused to answer questions such as how they were released or where they had been detained, saying other people's lives were at risk if they spoke about it. They said they were kept in a dark cellar and could only guess their captors' mood by the amount of food given or if they were allowed more trips to the toilet. "It's not worth paying such a price just to get professional satisfaction," Ion said. "We were living in fear, we didn't know what would happen in the next five minutes."

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Iraq-Jordan

Romania charges Translator in Iraq hostages' case

2005-05-27

Romania on Friday charged the translator for three Romanian journalists who were held in Iraq for 55 days, and an Arab businessman, of orchestrating the kidnapping. Prosecutors said the reporters' guide, Mohamad Munaf, who was seized with the journalists on March 28, and Romanian-Syrian businessman Omar Hayssam were charged with "initiating, funding and coordinating the March 28 kidnapping." The general prosecutor's office said the kidnapping was part of an elaborate plot aimed at turning Hayssam into a hero in Romania in the hope that it would help him escape potential punishment for previous charges of organized crime and economic-financial wrongdoings. "The abduction and threats by the Iraq group were aimed at triggering a strong psychological impact on the (Romanian) population, to depict Hayssam as a liberator of the journalists," it said in a statement. "Warrant arrests for 30 days were issued," it said. Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, 32, cameraman Sorin Miscoci, 30, and reporter for Romania Libera daily Ovidiu Ohanesian, 37 were kidnapped along with Munaf while on a short trip to Baghdad. They were shown in tapes aired by Al Jazeera. The three returned home on Monday but Munaf remained in Iraq under U.S. custody for investigations. The U.S. embassy in Bucharest said he had information indicating "an imminent threat" to the coalition forces in Iraq. Hayssam, who lives in Romania, had told local media immediately after the kidnapping that he received a telephone call from the insurgents asking for $4 million in exchange for their freedom. Authorities, suspecting foul play, immediately arrested Hayssam for questioning. Romanian prosecutors said nine people captured in Baghdad in April in connection with the case, supplied the information leading to the charges brought against the two Arab businessmen. The abductors were reported to have political demands, threatening to kill the hostages unless Romania, a staunch ally of the United States, withdrew its 800 troops from Iraq, where about 150 foreigners have been seized in two years. But Romania made clear it would not pull out its troops. Al Jazeera video identified the abductors as the previously unknown "Squadrons of Mu'adh bin Jebel," which refers to a figure from early Islamic history. President Traian Basescu, who handled the hostage crisis, said their release "was an operation handled 100 percent by the Romanian secret services, which cooperated in an excellent way." In comments broadcast by Realitatea TV Basescu would not disclose how they were freed: "This thing will be kept on top-secret file, which can be declassified in 50 years."

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Iraq-Jordan

TV: Militants Threaten to Kill Hostages

2005-04-23

Three kidnapped Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American translator say in a video that they will be killed by their Iraqi captors if Romania does not withdraw its troops within four days, Al-Jazeera reported Friday. In the video shown by the Arab satellite station, the Romanians — two men and a woman — sit cross-legged against a black background with their hands chained. A hand is seen on the right pointing a pistol at the hostages. Reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, sitting between her two colleagues, is seen talking and gesturing with her hands to the camera. Prima TV cameraman Sorin Miscoci appears upset, possibly crying. Al-Jazeera did not play the audio, but it quoted Ion as saying the Iraqi militants holding them had given the Romanian government four days from the date of the tape's broadcast to remove its 800 soldiers in Iraq. Otherwise, the captives will be killed, Al-Jazeera quoted her as saying. Rest at link.

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Iraq-Jordan

Car Bomb Kills 8 in Baghdad

2005-04-23

A car bomb exploded during Friday prayers at a mosque in Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 20, police said. The blast came as two militant groups claimed responsibility for shooting down a Russian-made helicopter carrying 11 civilians, and one released a video purportedly showing insurgents shooting the crash's lone survivor. In another development, a third Iraqi militant group threatened to kill three kidnapped Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American translator unless Romanian troops leave Iraq within four days, Al-Jazeera reported yesterday while airing a video of the captives. The video showed the three Romanians — two men and a woman — sitting cross-legged against a wall with their hands chained. The woman, sitting in the middle and said to be Marie Jeanne Ion, is seen talking but Al-Jazeera did not air the audio. Elsewhere, one US soldier was killed yesterday by a roadside bomb near the northern city of Tal Afar, the military said. On Thursday, a US Marine died in a nonhostile incident at Camp Delta, near Karmah, west of Baghdad, the military said. It gave no details. The violence was part of a surge of dramatic attacks that have caused heavy casualties in recent weeks, ending a relative lull since Jan. 30 elections.

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Iraq-Jordan

Journalists missing

2005-03-30

Three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Baghdad managed to send desperate text messages to relatives and colleagues just before they went missing on Monday. "We're kidnapped. This is not a joke. Help!!!!," one of the three, Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, managed to message her mother from her mobile phone, her mother Magdalena Ion told Realitatea TV yesterday. Ion's cameraman Sorin Miscoci and journalist Ovidiu Ohanesian of the Romania Libera daily newspaper, were also missing. Meanwhile, a video surfaced yesterday showing three drivers employed by a Jordanian trucking company being shot dead execution style by a militant group in Iraq.

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