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Italy 'paid $1m to free hostages'
A senior Italian politician says he believes a ransom of $1m or more was paid for the release of two female Italian aid workers kidnapped in Iraq. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said no money was paid. But Gustavo Selva, head of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the denial was purely "official". Meanwhile, British hostage Ken Bigley has appeared in a new video aired by Arabic TV channel Al-Jazeera, accusing Tony Blair of ignoring his plight. Squatting down in a cage and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, Mr Bigley said his captors did not want to kill him, and he accused the UK prime minister of "lying". The hardline group which seized Mr Bigley nearly two weeks ago, the Tawhid and Jihad group, beheaded two Americans kidnapped with him. Italian controversy Allegations of an Italian ransom, first made in a Kuwaiti newspaper, have been widely reported in Italy. The government has denied this but, I dare to say, this is an official denial which is part of a government's obligations so as not to give the impression that it has given in to blackmail The BBC's Guto Harri in Rome says Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has fuelled the rumours by talking of "a difficult choice which had to be made". Mr Selva, a member of the Northern League, one of the parties in Italy's governing coalition, told French radio: "The young women's life was the most important thing. "In principle, one should not give in to blackmail, but this time I think we had to give in - even though this opens a dangerous path because it is obvious that both for political or criminal reasons, this path can make others want to take others hostage to make some money." Security experts have told the BBC that money is likely to have played some part, but they also point to intensive behind-the-scenes negotiations on the part of the Italians. Mr Berlusconi has spoken of 16 separate negotiations to free the women. Hope for hostages Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Bigley's brother Paul said he had received a written message confirming his brother would be released alive. Ken Bigley has been threatened with beheading He had said he was 90% sure the message was genuine, but after seeing the video said he was now 100% sure. Meanwhile, a French negotiator says he has reached a deal with kidnappers to free two French journalists, Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot. The envoy, Philippe Brett, told al-Arabiya TV he had seen the two men, kidnapped on 21 August, and they would be released soon. However, the French foreign ministry said it had no knowledge of any deal and said Mr Brett was not part of any official negotiations. 'Treated with respect' The two Italian women, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, flew back to Rome on Tuesday night to a rapturous welcome, after three weeks of captivity. Two Iraqis seized with them on 7 September and four Egyptian telecom workers taken in a separate kidnapping last week have also been freed. "There were times when we feared we'd be killed," Ms Torretta said. "But at other times we laughed together." The women, both 29, told Italian officials they had been kept blindfolded for almost all the time and had never seen their captors' faces. They were kept together and in the same place all the time. "We have been treated with a lot of respect," Ms Torretta said. Many different groups are thought to be operating in Iraq. Some are criminal gangs seeking ransoms, while others have made political demands. About 30 foreigners, including several from Arab countries, are still being held, while several Iraqis have been kidnapped for ransom. The group holding Ken Bigley is said to have links to al-Qaeda. Its suspected leader, Jordanian-born militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, is also accused of masterminding a string of bombings in Iraq. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-09-29 |
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