Al Jazeera shows hostages

2005-03-30 23:21

Dubai - Three Romanian journalists and another individual taken hostage by an unidentified group in Iraq were shown on Wednesday on a video broadcast by the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

Two hooded men were seen pointing their weapons at the four visibly scared hostages, who were seated on the ground against the backdrop of a floral carpet.

The tape is the first apparent confirmation that the three Romanians were abducted, after the authorities in Bucharest initially declined to confirm that they were victims of a kidnapping.

Marie-Jeanne Ion, 32, a reporter for Prima TV, her cameraman Sorin Miscoci, 30, and Eduard Ohanesian, 37, of the Romania Libera newspaper was reported missing by the Romanian foreign ministry earlier this week.

The channel said that the three journalists identified themselves one-by-one on the tape, adding that the kidnappers had not made clear any demands to free their captives.

"An armed group, which did not identify itself, announced that it was holding three Romanian journalists hostage as well as a fourth person who was accompanying them," it said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the identity of the fourth captive shown on the tape, but US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick has said that a fourth person, a US national, went missing as the same time as the Romanians.

According to Romanian media, he is an Iraqi-American businessman, Mohammed Munaf, who financed the travel of the Romanians and acted as their guide in Baghdad.

- AFP