Hostage's end 'imminent'
2005-02-07 10:22
Dubai - An Islamist group which has threatened to kill an Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq unless Rome announces a pullout of its troops by late Monday said her fate would be decided "in the imminent future."
The group, calling itself the Organisation for Jihad, said in a statement posted on the Internet that "we will announce the fate of (Giuliana Sgrena) in the imminent future."
"We are still questioning the hostage, and the Sharia (religious) committee will soon present its verdict," the group said in the statement whose authenticity could not be verified.
"We consider that this is the last message for the Italian government and the Italian prime minister, and there will be no safety or stability as long as there is one Italian soldier on Iraqi soil," said the group.
It said it was the same group which had issued statements on the Italian hostage on Friday in the name of the Organisation of Islamic Jihad, and again on Saturday in the name of the Organisation for Jihad in the Countries of Mesopotamia.
Both statements had threatened to kill the hostage unless the "criminal government" in Rome announced a withdrawal of its some troops from Iraq by Monday night.
Sgrena, a 56-year-old veteran Middle East correspondent for the leftist Il Manifesto daily, was abducted on Friday after visiting a Baghdad mosque where refugees have been encamped since a devastating US-led assault on the city of Fallujah in November.
- AFP