Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Al-Hashimi appeals for release of German hostages
Security
(AP) - Iraq's Sunni vice president pleaded Tuesday for the kidnappers of two German citizens to release them "as a sign of goodwill." A previously unknown Iraqi insurgent group calling itself "Arrows of Righteousness" threatened in a video on March 10 to kill Hannelore Krause and her son, Sinan, unless Germany withdrew from Afghanistan within 10 days. The mother and son disappeared in Iraq on Feb 6.
The video showed the sobbing woman, sitting next to her grown son, appealing to the German government to respond to the kidnappers' demands. There has been no further word about the two. The video's authenticity could not independently verified, and German officials would not say where the two citizens were kidnapped nor what they were doing in Iraq.
"Our ethic and national responsibility needs to attract as much sympathy as we can from the world community to the ordeal now facing the Iraqi people," Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said in a statement. "Kidnapping innocent people and holding them responsible for their countries' policies does not serve this noble goal," he said.
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would not meet demands from Islamic extremists.
"The government cannot let itself be blackmailed," Merkel said at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The video showed the sobbing woman, sitting next to her grown son, appealing to the German government to respond to the kidnappers' demands. There has been no further word about the two. The video's authenticity could not independently verified, and German officials would not say where the two citizens were kidnapped nor what they were doing in Iraq.
"Our ethic and national responsibility needs to attract as much sympathy as we can from the world community to the ordeal now facing the Iraqi people," Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said in a statement. "Kidnapping innocent people and holding them responsible for their countries' policies does not serve this noble goal," he said.
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would not meet demands from Islamic extremists.
"The government cannot let itself be blackmailed," Merkel said at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Labels: Arrows of Righteousness, Germany, Hannelore Krause, hostages
