RIYADH, 17 July 2004 — A Saudi transport company said yesterday Iraqi kidnappers should release their Egyptian driver after the firm met their demand to pull out of Iraq.
“We have implemented their demands so we want them to release the driver,” company owner Faisal Al-Neheit told Reuters.
“We stopped our operations on Wednesday. We have had no activities in Iraq since then. All the trucks that were there have been pulled out and we have none going back,” he said.
The Faisal Al-Neheit Transport Company said Wednesday it would pull out of Iraq after kidnappers threatened on Tuesday to kill Egyptian truck driver Mohammed Gharabawi within 72 hours if it did not.
Al-Jazeera television said Thursday a new statement by the kidnappers had given the firm 48 hours “to be sure (of the company leaving) before carrying out the just verdict.”
The group calling itself “The 1920 Battalions, the military wing of the National Islamic Resistance”, also said that after that time it would not deal lightly with those who did business with “infidel occupiers” and fell into its hands, Al-Jazeera quoted the statement as saying.
On Friday Neheit also sent a statement to the Qatar-based channel, the main medium for militants announcing the capture or killing of hostages in Iraq, confirming the pullout.
The firm had offered the kidnappers $15,000 for Gharabawi’s release but said it was unable to pay a $1 million ransom first demanded by the group.
Gharabawi, who has worked for the firm for eight years, was seized while transporting fuel to Iraq about two weeks ago. The company is one of about 50 subcontractors operating with 1,400 trucks traveling from Saudi Arabia to Iraq.
