October 07, 2004

Hostages Recite Koranic Versus to be Released

How do you say, "I'm a Muslim, I swear" in Arabic. Oh wait, that one doesn't always work--ask Frank Gardner. The Jakarta Post:

In order to prove that the two hostages were Indonesian Muslims, the kidnappers asked them to recite the Koran, and they passed this test.

The kidnappers also accused the women of being the wives of Western men. "I don't know who were the men they were referring to. Luckily, I brought a photo of my husband. I showed them his picture and they believed me," Istiqomah said.

After being convinced, the captors treated them well. Istiqomah said she and Casingkem were released after the kidnappers saw President Megawati Soekarnoputri make an appeal on Al-Jazeera.

Maybe we can get the good Pres to put in a good word for some of the other hostages on al Jazeera, too?

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 08:14 PM | |