Captors ask France for ransom and pledge

France.com

20 years ago

A statement purportedly from the captors of two French journalists in Iraq gave France 48 hours Monday to accept three new conditions – agreeing to a recent truce offer by Osama bin Laden, paying a $5 million ransom and pledging not to get involved in Iraq.

The Islamic Army of Iraq has decided to make “the following demands to release the two French hostages,” said a statement posted on an Islamic Web site. The statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, listed the demands as “accepting a truce between them and Sheik Osama bin Laden, paying a $5 million ransom and pledging not to engage militarily and commercially in Iraq.”

“You have a maximum of 48 hours to accept these demands,” said the statement, which appeared to be partly addressed to other Western nations besides France.

In a taped message broadcast by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television on April 15, bin Laden offered peace to European countries that refrained from attacks against Muslims and pulled their troops from the Islamic world within three months.

European leaders dismissed the offer, saying the idea of negotiating with bin Laden was absurd.

The new statement punctured the mood of cautious optimism in France that Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, reporters who were captured Aug. 20, would soon be free. The kidnappers’ statement said the group had previously planned to release the men but that attacks on them had prevented them from doing so. They did not elaborate.

A group with the same name previously sent videotaped messages to the satellite television station Al Jazeera showing the two men. The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Monday’s statement.

The ransom demand and fresh deadline were the first word from the kidnappers since a previous ultimatum expired on Wednesday. The Islamic Army in Iraq previously had demanded that France revoke a new law banning Muslim head scarves in state schools. France refused the demands, and the law took effect on Thursday. French officials suggested last week that the hostages were no longer in the hands of their original captors and had been turned over to an Iraqi group that opposes the U.S.-backed Iraqi authorities in Baghdad.