JEDDAH, 10 July 2004 — The kidnappers of an Egyptian driver taken hostage in Iraq have demanded an unspecified ransom from his Saudi employer for his release, his sponsor and employer said.
The sponsor, Faisal ibn Ali Al-Nuheit, told Al-Madinah newspaper that the kidnappers of Sayed Muhammad Sayed Al-Gharbawi contacted him earlier this week to demand a ransom, but he refused to pay up.
The kidnappers called again on Thursday and asked for a delegate to be sent to the Iraqi city of Fallujah to negotiate Al-Gharbawi’s release, but he again refused. “I told the man who called that I rejected their request and demanded that they release Al-Gharbawi because he is a Muslim and his captors are Muslims too.”
He said the man told him his response would not change anything and hung up. The sponsor denied claims by the kidnappers that the Egyptian was working for the US occupation forces in Iraq. Al-Nuheit said Al-Gharbawi confessed under duress he was working with the Americans but in fact worked for a Buraidah-based company in the Kingdom and was transporting fuel to Iraq under an arrangement with the Saudi Al-Jari company.
Al-Nuheit stressed the work had nothing to do with the Americans.
Al-Jazeerah television station reported on Wednesday that Al-Gharbawi was taken hostage by Iraqi fighters while driving a fuel tanker. The hostage, a man in his fifties, with a gray beard and wearing a jellabiyah, was seen holding a passport in one hand, surrounded by four armed men, their heads and faces covered, on a brief snatch of video broadcast by the station.
Meanwhile, officials at Al-Jari company confirmed that the Egyptian driver’s abductors had demanded a ransom, but did not specify the sum requested.
The company’s General Manager, Huzam Al-Kahtani, was quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat as confirming that the Egyptian driver’s abductors had demanded a ransom and said negotiations were under way to secure Al-Gharbawi’s release.
