ISLAMABAD, 3 July 2004 — A Pakistani kidnapped in Iraq and threatened with execution telephoned his family in Pakistan yesterday saying he had been released, his uncle said.
“We received a telephone call from Amjad today. He said that he has been freed,” said Abdul Razaq Khan, the uncle of Amjad Hafeez.
Amjad spoke briefly to his mother who made an impassioned plea on Monday for the release of her son.
“We were in a state of torture since he was kidnapped. But now we all are overjoyed,” the uncle said from the northern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.
“His mother is crying. She is so happy and has been saying that the doors of heaven have opened to her.”
Amjad, 26, was captured by militants north of Baghdad and footage of him surrounded by masked gunmen was aired on Arabic television last Sunday. His captors had threatened to behead him within 72 hours unless local prisoners were released.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said the government was made aware of Amjad’s release through its mission in Baghdad.
The government had issued repeated appeals to the abductors to free Amjad in the name of “our noble religion Islam and humanity.” The head of Pakistan’s interim mission in Baghdad, Iftikhar Anjum, had been in contact with religious and political leaders and tribal elders in Iraq to help secure Amjad’s release.
The government had also urged the captors to heed the pleas from Amjad’s relatives.
