August 03, 2006

Turkish Hostage Released

So I wonder if our Turkish hacker online terrorist buddies approved of this kidnapping? Also note the end of the article for a list of Hostages still missing. The list includes missing American water treatment engineer Jeffrey Ake.

Alertnet: Aug 2 (Reuters) - A Turkish technician kidnapped in Iraq was released unharmed on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Hasan Eskimutlu was kidnapped on June 14. A video from the Imam Ali Battalion aired on Al Jazeera television in June showed a middle-aged man identified as Eskimutlu sitting next to a wall as a militant pointed a gun at his head.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Fifty-nine foreign hostages have been reported executed by their captors -- 41 in 2004, 13 in 2005 and five in 2006.

The following is a list of foreigners kidnapped since the beginning of 2005 and believed to be still missing in Iraq: HOSTAGE NATIONALITY DATE OF CAPTURE 2005: Mohammed Haroun Hamad Sudan March 9* Maher Ataya Sudan March 9* Nabil Tawfiq Sulaiman Egypt March 19 Mitwali Mohammed Qassem Egypt March 19 Jeffrey Ake U.S. April 11 Six unidentified Jordan May 6 Ali Abdullah Turkey June 7 Unidentified Turkey June 21* Samuel Edward Egypt Sept 26 Abderrahim Boualam Morocco Oct 20 Abdelkrim El Mouhafidim Morocco Oct 20 Six unidentified Sudan Dec 23 2006: Moses Munyao Kenya Jan 18 George Noballa Kenya Jan 18 Three unidentified Kenya July 28
We at the Jawa Report call for the release of all kidnapped hostages regardless of their nationality. We are glad this man was released. However, it's likely that Turkey had to pay ransom. A practice that only encourages more kidnapping.

Jawa Report Hostage archive.

Roy Hallums archive.

Norman Kember archive.

Jeffrey Ake archive.

Update: Crack Jawa Report hostage reporter George adds some corrections.

The sudanese hostages were actually freed. The Islamic Army released them after they "repented working for the Americans". Reuters is wrong.

Don't forget about Aban Elias and Dean Sadek.

By Howie at 03:17 PM | |