Italy may have paid ransom for release of hostages

[Stravo]

Ransom concern clouds Italy joy
Wednesday, September 29, 2004 Posted: 9:05 AM EDT (1305 GMT)


ROME, Italy -- National joy in Italy at the safe return of two female aid workers held hostage in Iraq for three weeks has been overshadowed by concern that Rome may have paid a ransom for their release.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini denied Wednesday that any money was handed to the kidnappers of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who flew to Rome the night before.

Torretta and Pari, both 29, were working for the group Bridge to Baghdad when their office was raided by insurgents on September 7 and they were taken hostage with two Iraqi men. The men were also freed Tuesday.

Italian intelligence officials said there had been intense negotiations through mediators with the hostage-takers during the women's three weeks in captivity.

But Gustavo Selvo, the head of an Italian parliamentary foreign affairs commission, told reporters he believed a ransom of about $1 million was paid -- despite government denials.

Selvo, a member of the National Alliance, a partner in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government, told France's RTL radio: "The lives of the girls was the most important thing.

"In principle, we shouldn't give in to blackmail but this time we had to, although it's a dangerous path to take because, obviously, it could encourage others to take hostages, either for political reasons or for criminal reasons."

The Turin newspaper La Stampa quoted Berlusconi as dismissing questions over the ransom, saying: "About this business, we won't say anything. Even more, we won't talk about it any more."

Reuters reported the prime minister as saying the government had to make "a very difficult choice."

A front-page editorial in the Rome daily La Repubblica said a "ransom was paid and that is nothing to be ashamed of." Another paper, Il Messaggero, said as much as $20 million could have been paid.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai al-Aam reported $1 million was paid, but Al-Arabiya TV, citing unidentified sources involved in the negotiations, said no money changed hands.

The news of the women's release was greeted with relief and celebration in Italy.

"The pope heard with great joy the news that the two Italian volunteers have been freed," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement.

"The pope thanked God for this gesture of humanity."

Sandro Brio, walking through central Rome, told Reuters: "I think it is one of the best types of news that one can have.

"I'm really happy, and I hope that now everything is done to stop this happening again."

'New era of understanding'
Their release of the two Italians raised hopes in Britain for the release of kidnapped engineer Kenneth Bigley, 62.

"We are all heartened by this," his brother Paul Bigley was quoted as saying Wednesday by The Times newspaper. "I am overjoyed for their families."

Meanwhile, kidnappers of two French journalists in a statement Tuesday praised France's "positive steps toward the Iraqi people," a sign that the hostage-takers may be softening their position.

In an e-mailed statement also posted on a discussion board of the Islamic Army in Iraq, the group said it hoped "this is a beginning for a new era of understanding our issues and respect of our constants."

The statement did not refer to the French captives, journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.

A French negotiator told Al-Arabiya on Tuesday he had met the kidnapped French journalists and has secured a promise for their release. But in Paris, a Foreign Ministry spokesman denied any knowledge of a deal to free the Frenchmen, The Associated Press reported.

Also Tuesday, an Egyptian telecommunications company said four of six employees who were taken hostage in Iraq last week were released unharmed. Orascom Telecom Holding said two of its engineers remain in captivity.

Since April, militant groups in Iraq have seized more than 100 foreign hostages. Most have been released, but about 30 have been killed.

At least seven Italians have been kidnapped in recent months in Iraq and two of them subsequently killed, including journalist Enzo Baldoni.

[Admiral Valdemar]

C'mon, is anyone surprised the oft stated "we don't negotiate with terrorists" mantra is bullshit? They all do it, all the time. When they get found out they're likely to be flamed to hell by the public, yet, not doing anything like this is equally bad.