Iraq, freed 3 Romanian reporters kidnapped on March 28th

BUCHAREST – The Romanian government announced today the release of three journalists taken hostage in Iraq on March 28th. The three journalists, Marie Jeanne Ion, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, Ovidiu Ohanesian, are under protection of the Romanian authorities in Baghdad, the Iraqi foreign ministry said in Bucharest.

The three journalists and their guide of Iraqi origin are “safe and sound and from 13.44 local are under the protection of the Romanian authorities”, specified the spokeswoman of the Romanian presidency, Adriana Saftoiu. “The four will return to Romania as soon as possible,” he added.

Marie Jeanne Ion, journalist of Prima TV, her cameraman Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, and Ovidiu Ohanesian, correspondent of the Romania Libera newspaper, were taken from a suburb of Baghdad, with their guide Mohamed Munaf, an American businessman Iraqi.

The kidnappers, who call themselves “the Brigade of Mouadh Ibn Jabal” – a historical figure in the history of Islam – had set an ultimatum for the announcement of the withdrawal of the 800 Romanian soldiers engaged in Iraq for April 27 in exchange for the release of the abducted. The journalists had been filmed in a video sent to international media, sitting on the ground, barefoot and handcuffed. Masked and armed men were standing next to them.

May 22, 2005