BUCHAREST, 28 May 2005 — Prosecutors said yesterday the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists was organized in Romania by their Iraqi-American guide and a Syrian-born businessman.
Prosecutors said in a statement that according to testimonies from nine people who were arrested in Baghdad, the journalists’ guide Mohammed Monaf and his business partner Omar Hayssam allegedly initiated and coordinated the entire kidnapping operation.
A Bucharest court issued arrest warrants yesterday for Hayssam and Monaf on terrorism charges in the case.
The three journalists were freed Sunday after 55 days in captivity in Iraq. They were kidnapped on March 28, shortly after interviewing Iraqi government officials and Iraqi businessmen with ties to Romania.
“The kidnapping and threats by the group in Iraq aimed to produce a strong psychological impact on the population” and make Hayssam look like the journalists’ savior, the prosecutor’s office said.
Prosecutors said Hayssam, one of Romania’s richest businessmen, was under investigation at the time of the kidnapping for financial wrongdoing, and he apparently hoped that “saving” the journalists would help him get clemency.
Monaf was reported to have been held with them and was seen with them in videotapes released by the captors.
Monaf is in US custody in Baghdad undergoing questioning regarding “imminent attacks” on coalition forces in Iraq, the US embassy in Bucharest has said.
In court, Hayssam denied organizing the kidnapping, private news agency Mediafax reported. He said Monaf found out about an auction in Baghdad and wanted to participate, and that he proposed taking journalists along to create publicity for their businesses.
Hayssam claimed that he asked Ion to travel to Iraq because his companies had publicity deals with her television station Prima TV, while Monaf similarly asked daily Romania Libera to send a reporter on the trip.
