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Freed Italian journo flees home
21/03/2007 08:55 - (SA)
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| Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo arrives at Ciampino military airport. (Gregorio Borgia, AP) |
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Rome - An Italian journalist, freed
after being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan, returned
home on Tuesday amid political controversy over the conditions
of his release.
La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released
by the Taliban on Monday after being held hostage for two weeks.
The kidnappers, who beheaded his Afghan driver, said they
freed him after the Afghan government handed over four insurgent
leaders, including the brother of military commander Mullah
Dadullah. Italian media reports said five Taliban were freed.
"I think the price was too high," said Vittorio Feltri,
editor of right-wing newspaper Libero, shortly after
Mastrogiacomo arrived in Rome on an Italian government plane.
'The government sold out'
"To rejoice about the fact that five ferocious assassins
have been freed is crazy," Feltri told a TV talk show. His paper
ran a banner headline on Tuesday: "The government sold out".
A spokesperson for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said a deal
had been struck but would not give any details.
"The president ... had instructed security authorities to
find out any possible way for the release of the Italian
journalist in recognition for the friendship with Italy and its
co-operation with Afghanistan," he told reporters. "A series of
demands were made and they were met to some extent."
Italian daily newspaper La Stampa questioned whether the
negotiations to free the journalist were hypocritical, given
that Italy had deployed 1 900 soldiers to help NATO secure
Afghanistan after the US-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.
"If this is the just price chosen to pay to save the life of
Mastrogiacomo, it's up to (the government) to show Italy is
still able to continue fulfilling its role in Afghanistan
without becoming the weak link in the international alliance,"
the newspaper said.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who hugged
Mastrogiacomo on his arrival in Rome, faces pressure from some
leftist and pacifist allies to withdraw the troops.
Mastrogiacomo, who has been asked by Italian prosecutors
investigating his kidnap not to make public statements before
they can question him, did not speak to reporters.
- Reuters
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