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More on the release of the Two Simonas
Italian intelligence officials were closely involved in the release of the two female aid workers held hostage in Iraq, it emerged yesterday. As Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, spoke after three weeks in captivity, it was reported that Italian intelligence and the Italian Red Cross, acting with a trusted junior government minister, were closely involved in the negotiations. According to La Repubblica newspaper, the deal also included an agreement that 30 sick Iraqi children would be sent to Italy. Last night the Italian Red Cross said six children and three adults had arrived for hospital treatment. Miss Torretta told magistrates that their captors sent them on their way with 10 copies of the Koran translated into English, and copious supplies of sweets. The two women were interviewed in the early hours after they flew into Rome on Tuesday night on board a chartered executive jet.It was not immediately clear where the ransom money came from. But the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi - a media tycoon whose political popularity has been badly eroded by criticism of the country's presence in Iraq - has been known to dip into his own pocket in the past. "At first they were hard on us. We were kept blindfolded for days," the women said. "During our captivity the kidnappers did their own investigating in order to find out who we were," said Miss Torretta, who spent the day at home yesterday. "The information they obtained showed that our work had been transparent and in the interests of the Iraqi people. In the end they actually asked our forgiveness. They treated us with great respect, and were even attentive to our needs," said Miss Torretta, who headed the office in Baghdad of the Bridge to Baghdad charity, which worked in health and education. The women were seized at gunpoint from the office on Sept 7. Right. Such altruistic and patriotic men; they must have released you immediately. No? They hung on in there for that $1m of someone else's money. I see... But they gave you sweets. And ten copies of the book that inspires them. Sure, I see what you mean: wonderful guys. Miss Pari told reporters yesterday: "I am serene, and very well. I hope I can return to Iraq quickly. It's a country I truly love. I'd like to send my best wishes and a big kiss to everyone in Iraq, and all our friends there." The women said they did not know where they were held, but in today's issue the Italian magazine Panorama, which is owned by Mr Berlusconi, claims that they were most recently in a large "western style" villa 30 miles outside Baghdad. The magazine said Italian intelligence had pinpointed their whereabouts on Monday. American intelligence, employing satellite technology, later confirmed this. Other people were kept in the villa, including "several other westerners", it added. Superb info, if true... The release was arranged through a Lebanese middleman. Corriere della Sera newspaper said negotiations began in earnest on Saturday night when the kidnappers released a tape on which the voices of the "two Simonas" had been recorded the same day. "This was the proof that the channel opened by the Red Cross was the correct one," the Corriere said, adding that Italian intelligence, with agreement of Gianni Letta, a junior minister trusted by Mr Berlusconi and known for his diplomatic skills, and Maurizio Scelli of the Red Cross opened negotiations. The paper said the original demands were a ransom of $5 million and withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, which were treated as a starting point. On Sunday a government official flew to Iraq and on Monday an Italian secret service source made contact with the kidnappers and was given details of the women's condition via a tribal chief. A deal was then reached to pay the $1 million ransom in two instalments. Posted by: Bulldog 2004-09-30 |
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