Cash freed Canadian hostage

2004-05-06 20:19

Toronto - The family of a Canadian businessman released by hostage takers in Iraq paid $100 000 in cash to win his freedom, a report said on Thursday.

Naji al-Kuwaiti, who worked as an importer-exporter in Iraq, was released on Tuesday after being held by unidentified kidnappers.

The Toronto Star newspaper quoted an unidentified federal official as saying that the family paid a ransom which was passed to the kidnappers by Canadian diplomats.

Canadian officials have refused to comment on speculation that a ransom was paid, and have divulged little about how al-Kuwaiti's case was resolved, citing a request by the family.

Al-Kuwaiti's family have declined requests to speak to the media.

But on Monday, Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary to the Canadian foreign ministry, said the case of al-Kuwaiti, who lives in Toronto, was being held by a band of "rogues" for motives which were not purely political.

Al-Kuwaiti was the third Canadian taken hostage in Iraq.

The first, Fadi Fadel, was freed April 16 after spending nine days as the captive of Shiite militias and an intense diplomatic effort to win his release.

A third Canadian, Iraq-born Rifaat Mohammad Rifaat, 41, has not been seen since he left the Abu Gharib prison west of Baghdad in early April, where his Saudi Arabia-based company was doing a refurbishing project.

Even though Canada did not take part in the Iraq war, officials here have warned that Canadians are, like other Westerners in the country in danger.

- AFP