April 23, 2005

Terrorist Threaten to Murder 3 Romanian and an American Hostage in new Video


The three Romanian victims are Marie Jeanne Ion, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, and Edward Ovidiu Ohanesian. The American is Iraqi born Mohammed Monaf. The terrorists belong to a group calling itself the Muadh ibn Jabal Brigades.

There was no audio broadcast, but al Jazeera says that reporter Marie Jeanne Ion reads a statement saying they will be killed if Romanian troops are not pulled out of Iraq in four days.

Read on for the Giuliana Sgrena angle. Boston Globe:

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....

The kidnappers identified themselves as the ''Muadh ibn Jabal Brigades,'' a previously unknown group. The name refers to a companion of Islam's prophet, Muhammad.

After the journalists were pictured, the video showed a man who appeared to be the translator, Iraqi-American Mohammed Monaf, sitting alone with his hands bound. He is also talking, but there is no sound. Gunmen stand on either side of him, pointing an automatic rifle and a pistol at his head....

What the AP omits from its story is that the terrorists have taken a chapter out of Giuliana Sgrena's playbook. The captive reporter pleas for the Romanian people to take to the streets and demand that their troops be removed from Iraq. Unlike Sgrena, though, who says it was her idea to make the video, the Romanian hostages talk to the camera with a gun pointed to their head. Further, it will should be noted that Sgrena's captors never threatened her life. Al Jazeera.com (unrelated to al Jazeera TV):
Speaking to the camera, Ion gave the news of the ultimatum and called on the Romanian government to accept the kidnappers' demands.

"The journalists appealed to the Romanian government to pull its troops from Iraq to ensure their releaseā€, said the channel.

"Marie-Jeanne Ion, the female hostage, said that the kidnappers gave the Romanian government four days from the release of the video to withdraw its troops from Iraq or the journalists will be killed.

"She asked the Romanian people to organize protests in order to pressure the Romanian government in order to ensure that the kidnappers' demands are met," it added.

Another interesting note is that the American is shown seperate from the Romanians. A friend in Romania tells me that many in that country believe he may have been involved in the hostage crisis. I've reported on that here. I should note that both he and I are not convinced that the evidence that Monaf was somehow involved in the hostage-taking is really all that strong.

Others: Chad at In The Bullpen still thinks this might just be about money. Possibly.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 10:11 AM | |