A diplomat from the UAE held hostage in Iraq since May 16th has been released. The man, Naji al-Nuaimi, was being held by a group calling itself the Banner of Islam and had demanded that the UAE break all diplomatic ties with Iraq and that the Dubai baised Al-Fayhaa TV channel be shut down.

On May 18th al Jazeera broadcast a videotape of the hostage. The next day the UAE withdrew its senior diplomat from Iraq. The TV station was not shut down.

AFP:

The captors of a United Arab Emirates diplomat held in
Iraq for a fortnight have freed their hostage, an Emirati foreign ministry official confirmed.

"Emirati diplomat, Naji al-Nuaimi, who was kidnapped in Iraq on May 16, was released this evening," the official said.

Hat tip to George.

Previous: UAE Diplomat Kidnapped in Iraq
UAE Diplomatic Hostage in Video

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The Army of Ansar al-Sunna has taken a female Iraqi translator hostage. In an announcement released on the internet, the group claimed that it had captured Mayada Salihi, a woman working as a translator for U.S. forces.

In the statement, the group claimed that Salihi was an "apostate" and among their most wanted targets. The Islamist group also claims that they had shot and wounded Ms. Salahi last year, but that she had escaped.

The group also posted several images to confirm that Mayada Salihi had been captured. Among them are several identification badges, including one for the U.S. embassy in Iraq. Two others identify Salihi as an employee of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

A series of other photos appear to show a woman posing with various Iraqi and U.S. forces, but her face is is blurred. The woman does appear to be Salahi.

The Army of Ansar al-Sunna is an active terrorist organization in Iraq. The group routinely murders hostages that it deems "apostates". Under Islamic law, the maximum penalty for apostasy is death. Thus, the Islamist groups justifies its murders as the carrying out of the death penalty under the guise of Islamic law.

The statement released by the group claims that two of its members were shopping in Baghdad when they spotted Salihi. They claim that Salihi was some sort of counter-intelligence officer that was hunting them down. Salihi initially fled the two "mujahidin" when they attacked her. They later found her in her car and kidnapped her, even though some Iraqi policemen saw what was happening and tried to stop them.

The group promised to upload a video to the internet in the near future. Unfortunately, this group has distributed dozens of videos of the murder and beheading of hostages in the past.

Mayada Salihi was featured in an article by Knight-Ridder in May of 2003. The author, S. Thorne Harper, describes Mayada Salihi as an outspoken advocate of women's rights in Iraq.:

She's definitely got the attitude – passionate and outspoken. In a country steeped in patriarchy, with little history of free speech, that's never been a problem for the 31-year-old, married mother of two.

"It is difficult here for some women," said Salihi, who prefers make-up, blouses and slacks to conservative Arab fashion. "For me, it's easy. I can say whatever I want."

Salihi worked at a private school teaching English before the war until a U.S. bombe killed one of her neighbors:

Later, still seething, she approached the first U.S. soldier she saw and asked him a tough question.

"I said to him: `I need to know when you are leaving our country,' " she said, sipping on a Pepsi.

The soldier had no answer. Calming her anger, Salihi realized she had to use her English skills to work with the Americans.

She works long hours as a U.S. military translator. Her husband works as a driver and guide for journalists.

Four days ago, she discovered four unexploded U.S. cluster bombs in her front yard. She said Iraqis who believe she is working with the U.S. government to arrest members of the former regime placed them there.

"I can't even let my children outside to play anymore," she said. "My house is like a prison."

More from Salihi:

She finds a paradox in postwar Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, she said, there was no freedom of speech but there was adequate security. Under U.S. rule, Iraqis are free to express themselves but no one feels safe.

Salihi warned that Iraqis are beginning to consider this paradox. Unless the U.S. turns things around quickly, she said they might start longing for the old ways.

"There is an old Arab saying, `If you want to know the value of something – like a leader, try the value of another one for a while," she said.

We pray that U.S. forces will swiftly find the terrorists who have captured Mayada Salihi and free her before it is too late. more...

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Why do the terrorists take hostages? Because sometimes it pays.

The Times: FRANCE, Italy and Germany sanctioned the payment of $45 million in deals to free nine hostages abducted in Iraq, according to documents seen by The Times.

All three governments have publicly denied paying ransom money. But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role in hostage negotiations, sums from $2.5 million to $10 million per person have been paid over the past 21 months. Among those said to have received cash ransoms was the gang responsible for seizing British hostages including Kenneth Bigley, the murdered Liverpool engineer.

Hat Tip : Guy who getÂ’s pissed off too easy. more...

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Good News!

Yahoo News :His brother, Mohammed al-Nuaimi, said the family had been told by the government that he was free, but they did not know how his release came about.

"The officials just told us that he was released and he was on his way to the embassy," al-Nuaimi said from his home in Dibba, a town in the southern Emirates.

"We have no details on how he has been released."

Related.

Update 18:51 CDT : Still no confirmation he has arrived safely.

Update 05/20 : Still no confirmation. We pray we have it soon. It seems there has been a snag develop.

NDTV : The government declined to comment on the reported release, but the official news agency WAM reported that the UAE charge d'affairs in Baghdad, Ali Seif al-Kaabi, had returned home to brief the Foreign Ministry on the latest developments in the kidnapping.

In Baghdad, Lt Col Falah al-Mohamedawi of the Iraqi Interior Ministry said the government has imposed an official blackout on news of any prospective release of the UAE diplomat

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al-Jazeera has aired a video of UAE diplomat Naji al-Noaimi. They threaten his life if their demands are not met. They demand that the UAE close itÂ’s Iraqi embassy and also shut down that Dubai broadcast station al-Fayha be shut down.

Reuters :DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) - An Iraqi group on Thursday issued a video of a United Arab Emirates diplomat kidnapped in Baghdad, and demanded that the Gulf state close its embassy in Iraq, Al Jazeera television reported.

The channel aired the video from the group calling itself Islam's Banner which showed a man standing next to a wall. No audio could be heard on the brief footage.

The group issued a 24-hour ultimatum for its demands to be met.

Diplomat Naji al-Noaimi was snatched on Tuesday following a short drive from the embassy to visit a colleague. His driver was shot in the kidnapping and later died of his wounds.

"The group demanded in a message accompanying the video ... that the UAE embassy in Baghdad be closed and al-Fayha channel which broadcasts from Dubai be shut down," Al Jazeera said.

Related: UAE diplomat Kidnapped in Iraq.

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Another war crime in Iraq, an UAE diplomatic official has been kidnapped in Iraq. The kidnapping and murder of diplomatic officials in Iraq has been a hallmark of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qeada.

Reuters : A United Arab Emirates diplomat in Iraq is believed to have been kidnapped, the UAE's state news agency WAM said on Tuesday.

It said that contact was lost with one of the diplomats based in the UAE embassy in Baghdad. "We believe he has been kidnapped," WAM quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.

He said the UAE was actively involved in humanitarian efforts in Iraq and is closely working with the Iraqi government and regional states to protect Iraq's unity, WAM reported.

Iraqi police sources said on Tuesday evening gunmen broke into the house where the UAE diplomat, Naji al-Noaimi, was staying and abducted him. They gave no further details.

"We lost touch with him," Noaimi's brother Mohammed told Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV by telephone. "Everyone knows that the UAE embassy is doing a lot of good work in the humanitarian field," Mohammed said, his voice choking up in tears.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Last year, al Qaeda militants in Iraq killed the Egyptian mission chief in Baghdad, two Algerian envoys, and two Moroccan embassy staff. The group has sworn to kill other Arab diplomats if their countries recognize Iraq's government.

The trend IÂ’ve noticed lately is that while the Sunni/baathist insurgernt groups are co-operating with al-Qeada, the al-Qaeda methods of car and suicide bombing are being replaced by the more direct targeted killings.

This man is a diplomat and kidnapping or harming his is against all the principals of war. He must be released immediately. One email calling my attention to this issue suspects that only ZarqawiÂ’s al-Qeada in Iraq would stoop so low. He also feels itÂ’s likely he will appear in a video or be killed. Knowing al-QaedaÂ’s record, IÂ’m afraid I agree. Our thoughts go out to this mans family and the UAE. We pray he will be released quickly and safely.

The Jawa Report will update as more news becomes available or if any demands surface.

Jawa Report Hostage archive here.

Related : Still no word on American hostage Jeffrey Ake who was kidnapped while working to supply fresh water to the people of Iraq.

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Sickening

Via The London Times Online :

Update: See Rusty here who says, "Ah young Paducan learn to trust your feelings". (Note extended entry was posted yesterday.)

Nobody but her killers knew just how much she had suffered until a film showing her death on February 22 at the hands of two musclebound men in military uniforms emerged last week. Her familyÂ’s worst fears of what might have happened have been far exceeded by the realityÂ….

...We now know that it was not that swift for Bahjat. First she was stripped to the waist, a humiliation for any woman but particularly so for a pious Muslim who concealed her hair, arms and legs from men other than her father and brother.

Then her arms were bound behind her back. A golden locket in the shape of Iraq that became her glittering trademark in front of the television cameras must have been removed at some point — it is nowhere to be seen in the grainy film, which was made by someone who pointed a mobile phone at her as she lay on a patch of earth in mortal terror.

By the time filming begins, the condemned woman has been blindfolded with a white bandage.

It is stained with blood that trickles from a wound on the left side of her head. She is moaning, although whether from the pain of what has already been done to her or from the fear of what is about to be inflicted is unclear...

...A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.

Her cries — “Ah, ah, ah” — can be heard above the “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.

Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.

Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.

The voice of one of the Arab worldÂ’s most highly regarded and outspoken journalists has been silenced. She was 30....

...I found it hard enough to bear the news of her murder. When I saw it replayed, it was as if part of me had died with her. How much more gruelling it must have been for a close family friend who watched the film this weekend and cried when he heard her voice.

The friend, who cannot be identified, knew nothing of her beheading but had been guarding other horrifying details of BahjatÂ’s ordeal. She had nine drill holes in her right arm and 10 in her left, he said. The drill had also been applied to her legs, her navel and her right eye. One can only hope that these mutilations were made after her death.

Also see the Mudville Gazette who adds:

Regardless of which side in the conflict killed her (and I have my own thoughts on that - in the eyes of her killers her greatest crime was most likely being a woman outside of a kitchen) the London Times reporter can't resist a mild apology for their act:

Just as Bahjat bore witness to countless atrocities that she covered for her television station, Al-Arabiya, during IraqÂ’s descent into sectarian conflict, so the recording of her execution embodies the depths of the countryÂ’s depravity after three years of war.

In truth, it represents a depth of depravity achieved over centuries. From the description, her killers hadn't just conceived or improvised their method execution on the spot - they seem to have been well practiced. But such is the nature of the enemy in this war, and perhaps this is their most sacred and well honed knowledge: if a brutality can be inflicted that exceeds all human ability to comprehend, the humans will find a way to deny it

This is the face of evil itself. That the monsters choose to hide behind masks shows how deeply depraved and cowardly they really are. We must remember we are at war. Or that face will show itself again and again.

Anyone who thinks that God's greatness is established by such acts of barbaric cruelty must be resisted at all costs.

Others : Malkin and Captains Quarters.

See our beheading archive; Warning Graphic Images. more...

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Good news indeed! These men were last seen in a terrorist video released on January 27th. The terrorist group called Tawhid and Sunnah brigade had threatened to kill them unless Germany met their demands which were that Germany cut off all diplomatic and trading ties with the new Iraqi government.

Reuters via Alertnet :The two men were abducted on Jan. 24 outside their workplace in the industrial town of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said they had been freed without warning and appeared to be unharmed.

"I am very pleased to inform you that the two kidnapped men from Leipzig, Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, have been freed today," Steinmeier said in a statement. He said the men, being looked after in Germany's embassy in Baghdad, were expected to return home on Wednesday.

"After spending more than three months under inhumane conditions they are in German care," added Steinmeier, who was on an official visit to Chile.

Since the kidnapping, hundreds of people had gathered in their hometown of Leipzig, eastern Germany, for weekly vigils, placing flowers and lighting candles.

Additional background here and here.

The Jawa ReportÂ’s Hostage Archive.

Hostatge support and news is one of our missions here. If any reader knows of a hostage story that needs attention email Rusty or I at the addresses on the contacts page.

Update : Braeunlich and Nitzschke have arrived in Germany and have given a brief statement. The German government refused to release details on how their release was secured.

ABCNEWS : "We are very happy to still be alive, which we don't take for granted," Nitzschke said.

"I am happy to be back home," Braeunlich said. "We had a difficult time."

After their statements, they boarded a minivan that government officials said would take them to a private reunion with their families.

The pair were released Tuesday after being held hostage since Jan. 24. The Foreign Ministry declined to provide details on how the pair were freed including whether a ransom was paid citing safety reasons.

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