Ransom gains freedom for seven hostages

A £280,000 (€411,560) ransom payment today gained freedom for seven truck drivers held hostage in Iraq since July.

The men arrived at Kuwait’s international airport after their company paid Iraqi militants the cash to secure their release.

The freed hostages – three Kenyans, three Indians and an Egyptian – were hugged and presented with flowers by executives and employees of the company they worked for, Kuwait Gulf Link Transport.

KGL chief executive officer, Said Dashti, said the men were freed after a team of company employees drove under armed guard to an unspecified location in Iraq where the drivers were being held to pay the ransom.

“The kidnappers were not trying to make a political statement, they were purely extortionists,” Dashti said.

Dashti said the kidnappers’ initial demands included a £4m (€6m) ransom, the release of prisoners held in the US military prison in Guantanamo and compensation for victims of coalition attacks in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah.

But the kidnappers lowered their demands as their negotiations with tribal and religious leaders and parties close to the company continued, Dashti added.

Asked if he thought paying ransom money will encourage more kidnappings and terrorism, Dashti said: “Yes, but I had no other choice, the drivers are human beings and were trying to save their lives.”

Freed Egyptian Mohammed Ali Sanad said they learned two days ago that their release was imminent.

“We felt very happy and we did not sleep out of our joy. All people helped us,” he said. “The kidnappers are religious people and they taught us to pray. God save us and them.”

The kidnappers called themselves the Holders of the Black Banners of the Secret Islamic Army, and appeared to be different from the Islamic Army, a group that has claimed to have kidnapped two French journalists.

Christian Chesnot, of Radio France International, and Georges Malbrunot, reporting for the daily Le Figaro, disappeared along with their Syrian driver on August 19 on their way from Baghdad to the southern city of Najaf.

Their captors have demanded France scrap a law banning Muslim head scarves in public schools that takes effect tomorrow, the start of the new school year.

France has refused the demand and mounted a fierce public relations campaign in the Middle East and among Muslims in France demanding their release.