hostage

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Taliban Claims 2 German Hostages Killed

Demand German troop pullout, threaten South Korean captives

(Newser) - Two German citizens abducted in Afghanistan have been shot to death, a Taliban spokesman claimed today. The Taliban had demanded the withdrawal of the more than 3,000 soldiers Germany has stationed in Afghanistan, a demand to which they did not accede. The Germans were working on a dam project...

UK Toddler Kidnapped in Nigeria
UK Toddler Kidnapped in Nigeria
Jul 5, 2007 7:06 AM CDT

UK Toddler Kidnapped in Nigeria

Five foreign workers were abducted yesterday

(Newser) - A three-year-old British girl was kidnapped by gunmen in the Niger Delta today. The abduction comes after five oil workers were kidnapped yesterday. Militant groups who want a larger share of Nigeria's oil profits to go to the poor have taken more than 100 foreign hostages this year, the BBC...

Johnston Tells of 'Appalling,' 'Terrifying' Ordeal

Freed BBC reporter describes kidnapping

(Newser) - Alan Johnston's 16 weeks in captivity were an "appalling" experience that made him feel "buried alive," the BBC reporter tells the Evening Times of Glasgow. Johnston, freed yesterday, said he dreamed of freedom "but always woke up in that room." In Jerusalem yesterday after being...

Hamas Releases Audio of Israeli Soldier

A year after capture, Cpl. Gilad Shalit says his health is failing

(Newser) - In the first proof that he is alive a year after capture, Hamas militants today released an audio recording of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier seized in a cross-border raid near the Gaza strip. In the message posted on the group's web site, Shalit said a year in prison is...

Tehran Rescue Caper Was Screen Gem
Tehran Rescue Caper Was Screen Gem
Apr 24, 2007 8:44 AM CDT

Tehran Rescue Caper Was Screen Gem

How a fake movie saved Americans trapped in revolutionary Iran

(Newser) - Wired looks back at one of the most daring (and cinematic) CIA operations ever declassified: the smuggling home of six American hostages during the 1980 Iranian revolution. With the Canadian government's help, agent Tony Mendez painstakingly crafted the elaborate guise of a Canadian sci-fi film crew scouting locations; eventually, the...

UK About-Face On Sailors Selling Stories

Public outcry leads to ban on further embarrassing interviews

(Newser) - The British Ministry of Defense bowed to public opinion last night and banned further media deals for the sailors and marines released from captivity in Iran. The decision to let the detainees sell their stories had "not reached a satisfactory outcome," the defense secretary said.

Freed 15 Deals Spur Outrage
Freed 15 Deals Spur Outrage
Apr 9, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

Freed 15 Deals Spur Outrage

Officials defend go-ahead to cash in

(Newser) - Britain’s military chiefs are under fire for allowing 15 British sailors and Royal Marines released by Iran to sell their stories. Faye Turney has already closed a deal for almost $200,000, and at least two others are considering offers. The families of British servicemen killed and wounded in...

Resisting Captors Was "Not an Option"

Brit sailors say they were threatened, psychologically tortured

(Newser) - Britain's freed sailors say they were blindfolded, psychologically tortured, and isolated from each other during their captivity in Iran. They were lined up while weapons were cocked, and told that if they did not say they were in Iranian waters when they were caught, they would face seven years in...

Britons Ask: Were Captives Too Cozy With Iranians?

Co-operation called, "Bloody Shambles"

(Newser) - As the euphoria over the homecoming of the 15 British captives subsides, some Britons are charging that the sailors and marines went overboard in co-operating with their captors. Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Gray tells London’s Daily Mail: "In my days you would have got name, rank and serial...

Was There a Deal with Iran?
Was There
a Deal with Iran?
Apr 5, 2007 7:54 AM CDT

Was There a Deal with Iran?

Iranian prisoner in Iraq was freed before British sailors were

(Newser) - Officials deny that concessions were made to Iran for the release of the captured British sailors, but the Times speculates that there may have been a secret deal. An Iranian diplomat held in Iraq for eight weeks was freed the day before the British prisoners were. Also, American officials said...

British Sailors Come Home
British Sailors Come Home
Apr 5, 2007 7:43 AM CDT

British Sailors Come Home

(Newser) - The fifteen British sailors captured by Iran are back in the UK. As soon as the British Airways jet touched down as Heathrow, Blair traded his measured diplomatic tone  for harsher words, warning the "elements of the Iranian regime" were still arming insurgents inside Iraq."

IRAN TO RELEASE SAILORS
IRAN TO RELEASE SAILORS
Apr 4, 2007 9:04 AM CDT

IRAN TO RELEASE SAILORS

(Newser) - The 15 captured British sailors are to be released immediately, says Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The surprise announcement came toward the end of an hour-long press conference, in which Ahmadinejad berated the British government for using the situation to create "media hype." He maintains that the Brits invaded...

Brit Standoff Shows Deeply Divided Iran

Radicals and moderates fight it out, tacitly, over captured sailors

(Newser) - An internal squabble between Iran's radical president and more moderate officials  is in evidence in the crisis over the captive British marines and sailors. President Ahmadinejad and his Revolutionary Guards are pushing for a trial. Cooler heads, including Ali Larijani, the diplomat who offered bilateral negotiations yesterday, are pushing back,...

Iranians, Brits Move Toward Talks
Iranians, Brits Move Toward Talks
Apr 3, 2007 6:56 AM CDT

Iranians, Brits Move Toward Talks

Top diplomat lays out roadmap for brokering sailors' release

(Newser) - Iran is ready to negotiate freeing its 15 British captives, according to the country's top diplomat. In a cryptic TV interview, Ali Larijani suggested the marines and sailors could be released if the Brits apologized and stopped putting international pressure on Tehran. "We are not interested in the issue...

U.N.'s Worthless If It Can't Get Tough on Iran

U.N. Lawyers outraged at anemic repsonse to hostage-taking

(Newser) - Iran's taking hostages, and the the United Nations is merely "gravely concerned"? Two U.N. lawyers, writing in the LA Times, are disgusted. "The international community's failure to show immediate outrage at Iran's action is deafening," say David Rivkin and Lee Casey. "Ancient legal principles...

They're Lucky They're Not in Guantánamo

Novelist notes British captives have it easy, as detainees go

(Newser) - Iran's British captives may be embarrassed and anxious, but they  appear to be better off than many detainees in American and British hands, observes novelist Ronan Bennett. "They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not had electrodes...

Brits Prove Captured Sailors Were in Iraqi Waters

Iran can't stick to a story

(Newser) - The 15 British sailors captured by Iran last week were inside Iraqi waters, British evidence released today shows. The craft's GPS system put it 1.7 nautical miles outside Iranian territory, which a British military helicopter confirms. The Iranian government revised its own version of the location Monday, when its...

Italians Ransom Journalist for 5 Taliban Prisoners

Widely criticized deal is first swap for a hostage in Iraq or Afghanistan

(Newser) - The Italian government bought the freedom of a kidnapped Italian journalist by arranging the release of five Taliban militants from an Afghan prison. The New York Times says it’s the first time prisoners have been openly exchanged in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan., and the move was widely...

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