Free: Kidnapped Bridge to Baghdad Workers Released in Iraq

Wednesday, September 29th, 2004
Free: Kidnapped Bridge to Baghdad Workers Released in Iraq

listen to segment at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/29/1411255

Four humanitarian workers - two Italians and two Iraqis - were freed yesterday after being kidnapped in Iraq three weeks ago. Simona Torretta, Simona Pari, Raad Ali Abdul Azziz and Mahnouz Bassam all worked with A Bridge to Baghdad, a humanitarian group that opposed much of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq including the sanctions, invasion and occupation. Four humanitarian workers - two Italians and two Iraqis - of the organization "A Bridge to Baghdad" were freed yesterday after being held hostage in Iraq for three weeks.

The women, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari both 29 years old, were kidnapped from their Baghdad office in broad daylight, along with Iraqi aid workers Raad Ali Abdul Azziz and Mahnouz Bassam.

The two Italians received a rapturous welcome as they arrived at Rome's military airport on last night. Looking overjoyed, they stepped off the plane dressed in traditional Iraqi clothes into the arms of waiting friends and relatives. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was at the airport to welcome them.

Simona Torretta told Italian news agencies "We have been treated with a lot of respect." Toretta and Pari have worked in Iraq for years with A Bridge to Baghdad, a humanitarian group that opposed much of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq including the sanctions, invasion and occupation. Torretta said the kidnappers "Understood our work and from that moment on the situation improved."

The BBC reports Torretta and Pari said the kidnappers had possessed no list or pictures of the aid workers when they stormed their Baghdad office on September 7th. Instead, they asked everyone their name before taking four of them away. The women told Italian officials they had been treated well but kept blindfolded for most of the time and had never seen their captors' faces. They were kept together and in the same place all the time, with the exception of a quick move the day after the abduction. In the beginning, their two Iraqi colleagues were also with them, but they were taken away after a few days. They said their jailers spoke English.

A Kuwaiti paper reported that the Italian government paid a $1 million ransom for their release. Berlusconi avoided the topic when asked about the claim by reporters.

Describing their capture, Simona Torretta said "There were times when we feared we'd be killed. But at other times we laughed together." She also described how the captors came to apologize to the women as they were about to release them and even gave them a box of sweets for the journey home.

In footage captured by Al-Jazeera, the two Italians were received by the Red Cross outside a Baghdad neighborhood. They wore full black veils revealing only their eyes. They lifted their veils and Simona Torretta repeated, "Thank you," in Arabic.

Upon her return to Italy Simona Torretta said she planned to return to Baghdad. She said "I would do it all over again with all the consequences that carries even though I'm sorry for all the suffering my mother went through and didn't deserve."

* Jeff Guntzel, a staff reporter for the National Catholic Reporter. He has been to Iraq 9 times since 1998. For years, he was a co-coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness. He has known Simona Torretta for 5 years.

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (800) 881-2359.