Freed hostages 'not tortured'
23/03/2006 21:20  - (SA)  

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Baghdad - Three humanitarian workers, rescued on Thursday after being held hostage in Iraq for nearly four months, said they were held separately from a United Staes colleague who was murdered two weeks ago, said a member of their organisation.

"The last time they saw him was 40 days ago when he was taken away," said Peggy Gifh, a fellow member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), who met the released hostages for an hour on Thursday.

Tom Fox, the fourth member of the team kidnapped in Baghdad in November, was killed by the kidnappers two weeks ago and his body was dumped in the city.

"They overheard from one of their captors and from a TV that he was killed, but they were not sure about it," said Gifh.

During their ordeal, they were neither beaten, nor tortured, she said.

"The food was inadequate, but their minds were sharp," she added.

"They looked good, there was no sign of physical mistreatment."

They were kept together in a room, and not blindfolded or handcuffed all of the time, she said. They were sometimes able to walk about the room.

"They were really glad to be free," she said, adding that they asked about their families and about what had been happening in the world.

It was not immediately known how soon they would be going home.

- AFP

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