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Kidnapped Iranian diplomat freed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-28 01:19
A kidnapped Iranian diplomat was released Monday after nearly two months in
captivity, the Iranian Embassy said. Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II said
he believes two abducted Italian aid workers are still alive despite claims they
had been killed.
Faridoun Jihani, the Iranian consul in Karbala, spent 57 days in captivity
after he was seized by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, which
accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs.
Kidnapped Iranian
diplomat, Faridoun Jihani, right, and Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, Hassa
Qumy, address a press conference after Jihani was released, Baghdad, Iraq,
Monday Sept. 27, 2004. Jihani, an official at the Iranian consulate in
Karbala, was seized while traveling between Baghdad and Karbala in early
August. [AP] |
Jihani was released and arrived
at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad Monday afternoon, said Abbas Attar, director
of the Iranian ambassador's office in Baghdad. Another embassy official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said Jihani was in good health and was
recovering at the embassy.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday that the diplomat was
released after persistent diplomatic efforts and cooperation of Iraqi officials.
Jihani was abducted in early August while traveling between Baghdad and
Karbala.
The Islamic Army in Iraq, which claimed to be holding him in a video released
Aug. 7, has also claimed to be holding two French journalists, Christian Chesnot
and Georges Malbrunot, who disappeared Aug. 20 during a trip to the southern
Iraqi city of Najaf. The group demanded that France revoke a new law banning
Islamic head scarves from state schools. The law went into effect as planned,
and there has been no word since on the two French.
Jihani's kidnappers accused him of provoking sectarian war in Iraq and warned
Iran not to interfere in Iraq's affairs. Iran, a Shiite Muslim country with
close ties to Iraq's majority Shiite population, is suspected of using money to
influence the political field in Iraq.
Iranian Embassy officials gave no further details about Jihani's time in
captivity. "We haven't had a chance to speak to him about it," said the embassy
official who declined to be named. "Let him rest a little and we can answer all
your questions."
More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq — some by anti-U.S.
insurgents and others by criminals seeking ransom. At least 26 have been killed,
including two American civil engineers, who were beheaded last week by a
separate militant group.
Jordan's monarch was heading to Rome for talks on Tuesday with Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi about efforts to win the freedom of Simona Pari and
Simona Torretta, two aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad on Sept. 7
"The information that I have, at this moment, is that both the hostages are
alive," Abdullah was quoted as saying in an interview with the daily Corriere
della Sera.
"With the help of intelligence, we are trying to trying to locate them, and
we are using all our contacts with leaders and groups within Iraq to obtain
their release," he said.
The two women, both 29, were working for the aid agency "Un Ponte Per ..."
("A Bridge To...") and were involved in school and water projects in Iraq.
Last week, two militant groups claimed to have killed the two women, but the
Italian government said the claims were unreliable. The two groups were the same
that claimed to have kidnapped them. One group demanded that women held in Iraqi
prisons be released and the other that Italy withdraw its troops from Iraq.
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