Islamic army demands ransom to free the two French journalists
Iraq-France, Politics, 9/7/2004

The French prime minister Jan Pierre Ravaran doubted a statement attributed to a group holding the two French journalists in Iraq that places new conditions to release them. The group gave Paris the option either to pay a ransom of USD 5 million or to approve a truce proposed earlier by the leader of al-Qaida organization on the European states as a condition to release the two journalists.

The French prime minister said in statements to RTL radio that his government always takes these news seriously, but these information raise strong doubts in the experts, noting that this statement is being examined.

The French minister of defense Michael Mary called for caution in expectations concerning the fate of the two French journalists Christian Shino and George Malbrono who are held since August 20 in Iraq, at a time she said that there are positive indicators on the possibility of releasing them.

The secretary general of the Islamic organizations union in France, Fouad Alawi, described the talks he had held in Iraq last week to release the two hostages as had reached the stage of "handing over," considering that the escalation of acts of violence in Iraq had complicated the situation. A statement attributed to the "Islamic Army In Iraq- the higher command" issued on its website " forum of al-Jama'a ( group) wal Sunnah people" on the Internet said that "after numerous consultations, the two journalists will be released but under the condition that France will approve the truce proposed by Osama Bin Laden and will vow not to have military and trade activities in Iraq.

The group also explained that it will accept one of the two conditions but warned against the consequences of attacking it the same happened when it intended to hand over the two hostages. The statement gave a grace period of a maximum of 48 hours to approve these demands.

The leader of al-Qaida organization Osama Bin Laden proposed in a voice message on April 15 to the European countries a peace initiative demanding accepting it within three months.

Previous Stories:
  A Sunni commission issues a Fatwa to release French journalists   (9/6/2004)
  France confirms that two hostages are given to a group supporting their release   (9/3/2004)
  French FM gets Doha support, continued French efforts to released kidnapped journalists   (9/2/2004)

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