Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Iraqi insurgent group threaten to kill German hostage
Security
(AP) -- An insurgent group in Iraq posted a videotape Monday that showed a German hostage who has been held for more than six months and threatened to kill him unless Germany withdrew its troops from Afghanistan within 10 days. Sinan Krause and his mother Hannelore disappeared in Iraq on Feb. 6. German officials have not said what they were doing in Iraq. The mother was freed in July.
The video showed Sinan Krause seated drinking tea in front of a blue backdrop and talking with his mother, who was weeping. As the image shifted to Hannelore sitting alone dressed in her headscarf, a voice was heard saying she was released because she converted to Islam. The narrator then demanded that Germany withdraw its forces from Afghanistan within 10 days or "we will slaughter him (Sinan) like a sheep to please ourselves and in support of our brothers and a humiliation to our enemies."
A previously unknown insurgent group, the "Arrows of Righteousness," claimed March 10 to have abducted Sinan and his mother and released two earlier videos of the two. The authenticity of Monday's almost three minute-long video could not be verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants and carried the logo of the group.
In both previous videos - released in March and April - the group also threatened to kill the hostages if Germany did not start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan within 10 days. In one video, the mother said she worked for the Austrian Embassy, and a militant's voiceover said her son worked for Iraq's Foreign Ministry.
Germany, which opposed the war in Iraq and has no troops there, has some 3,000 soldiers serving in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan - largely in the relatively calm north - and has said it will not comply with the kidnappers' demands.
The video showed Sinan Krause seated drinking tea in front of a blue backdrop and talking with his mother, who was weeping. As the image shifted to Hannelore sitting alone dressed in her headscarf, a voice was heard saying she was released because she converted to Islam. The narrator then demanded that Germany withdraw its forces from Afghanistan within 10 days or "we will slaughter him (Sinan) like a sheep to please ourselves and in support of our brothers and a humiliation to our enemies."
A previously unknown insurgent group, the "Arrows of Righteousness," claimed March 10 to have abducted Sinan and his mother and released two earlier videos of the two. The authenticity of Monday's almost three minute-long video could not be verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants and carried the logo of the group.
In both previous videos - released in March and April - the group also threatened to kill the hostages if Germany did not start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan within 10 days. In one video, the mother said she worked for the Austrian Embassy, and a militant's voiceover said her son worked for Iraq's Foreign Ministry.
Germany, which opposed the war in Iraq and has no troops there, has some 3,000 soldiers serving in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan - largely in the relatively calm north - and has said it will not comply with the kidnappers' demands.
Labels: Afghanistan, Arrows of Righteousness, Germany, Hannelore Krause, hostage, Iraq, Sinan Krause
Monday, May 07, 2007
Destiny of German hostages remains unknown
Kidnapping
(Asharq Al Awsat Newspaper) - 5 MAY - A German Foreign Ministry spokesman announced that Berlin is still concerned about the destiny of the German hostages who have been kidnapped in Iraq for the past three months. In Berlin, Martin Yeager, said that the Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Room is working hard for the safe return of the hostages, 61-year-old Hannelore Kraus and her twenty-year-old son. The kidnapping occurred February 6th in Baghdad by a group that calls itself, The Battalions of the Arrows of Righteousness. The group has demanded the withdrawal of German forces from Afghanistan in exchange for the hostage’s release which has been rejected by the German government because they refuse this type of extortion.
Labels: abduction, Germans, Hannelore Krause, hostages, Martin Yeager, The Battalions of the Arrows of Righteousness
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Germany given 10-day deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan by abductors
Security
(Reuters) - Iraqi militants holding a German woman and her son hostage said on Tuesday they were giving Germany a new deadline of 10 days to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or the two would be killed. The Arrows of Righteousness group posted a video on the Internet showing Hannelore Marianne Krause urging Germans to press their government to heed the demands of the militants. She broke down in tears at one stage.
The group had issued an earlier ultimatum on March 10 that it would kill the pair if Berlin failed to pull out its troops from Afghanistan. The two were seized from their home in western Baghdad in early February. "I urge the German people to help me in my difficult situation," said Krause, according to an Arabic translation of her comments, only parts of which could be heard.
"Germany was safe before it got involved in this satanic coalition with America against what they call terrorism," said Krause, shown sitting on the ground next to her son. "Maybe for the last time ... I urge you. Perhaps you can go to the newspapers, perhaps you can organize a protest march ... contact people who can help you, please please, please," she said, addressing a son and daughter living in Germany.
A militant speaking on the video but out of sight said: "We are giving the German government another 10 days to begin withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan or we shall kill this criminal woman and her son who works in the Foreign Ministry of the government of (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-) Maliki."
The group had issued an earlier ultimatum on March 10 that it would kill the pair if Berlin failed to pull out its troops from Afghanistan. The two were seized from their home in western Baghdad in early February. "I urge the German people to help me in my difficult situation," said Krause, according to an Arabic translation of her comments, only parts of which could be heard.
"Germany was safe before it got involved in this satanic coalition with America against what they call terrorism," said Krause, shown sitting on the ground next to her son. "Maybe for the last time ... I urge you. Perhaps you can go to the newspapers, perhaps you can organize a protest march ... contact people who can help you, please please, please," she said, addressing a son and daughter living in Germany.
A militant speaking on the video but out of sight said: "We are giving the German government another 10 days to begin withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan or we shall kill this criminal woman and her son who works in the Foreign Ministry of the government of (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-) Maliki."
The militant said the woman was targeted partly because she worked at the Austrian embassy in Baghdad. "Austria is a government hostile to Islam and Muslims and it also has troops to kill our children in Afghanistan," he said. Krause said: "I also urge Austria to stand by me as I have worked many years at the (Austrian) commercial section ... Austria also has troops in Afghanistan and now I am going to be killed for that. I urge you to please help me."
Germany, which opposed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, has about 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO force stationed in the country after U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban in 2001 for harboring al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Austria said last month it had five officers in Afghanistan and was not planning to send more troops. Krause is married to an Iraqi physician and moved to Iraq 40 years ago. Her son is reported to be in his mid-20s and has dual German-Iraqi citizenship. The German government has said it is working to try to secure the hostages' release but will not be blackmailed.
Germany, which opposed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, has about 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO force stationed in the country after U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban in 2001 for harboring al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Austria said last month it had five officers in Afghanistan and was not planning to send more troops. Krause is married to an Iraqi physician and moved to Iraq 40 years ago. Her son is reported to be in his mid-20s and has dual German-Iraqi citizenship. The German government has said it is working to try to secure the hostages' release but will not be blackmailed.
Labels: Afghanistan, Arrows of Righteousness, Austria, Germany, Hannelore Krause, hostages
Monday, March 26, 2007
Forces hunt for German hostages
Security, Hostages
(Reuters) - U.S. soldiers hunting for a German woman and her son being held hostage by an Iraqi Islamist group raided houses in Baghdad on Sunday night but came up empty-handed. Reuters photographer Fabrizio Bensch who witnessed the raid said the troops had been acting on a tip-off. The little-known group, the Arrows of Righteousness, has threatened to kill the two hostages unless Germany withdraws its 3,000 troops from Afghanistan.
The German woman, Hannelore Marianne Krause, is married to an Iraqi physician and moved to Iraq 40 years ago. Her son is reported to be in his mid-20s and has dual German-Iraqi citizenship. The pair were seized from their home in the western Baghdad district of Ghazaliya in early February. Earlier this month, the kidnappers released a video showing Krause weeping with her son and appealing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet the kidnappers' demands.
The German government has said it is working to try to secure the hostages' release but will not be blackmailed. More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Most foreign hostages have been released but at least 60 have been reported killed by their captors.
Last year two German engineers were captured in Iraq and held for 99 days before they were freed. It is not clear if a ransom was paid. Before that, German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff was also held by an Islamist group.
The German woman, Hannelore Marianne Krause, is married to an Iraqi physician and moved to Iraq 40 years ago. Her son is reported to be in his mid-20s and has dual German-Iraqi citizenship. The pair were seized from their home in the western Baghdad district of Ghazaliya in early February. Earlier this month, the kidnappers released a video showing Krause weeping with her son and appealing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet the kidnappers' demands.
The German government has said it is working to try to secure the hostages' release but will not be blackmailed. More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Most foreign hostages have been released but at least 60 have been reported killed by their captors.
Last year two German engineers were captured in Iraq and held for 99 days before they were freed. It is not clear if a ransom was paid. Before that, German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff was also held by an Islamist group.
Labels: Arrows of Righteousness, Hannelore Krause
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
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Islamic group calls for release of German hostages
Security
(AFP) - An Islamic group in Germany called for the immediate release of two German citizens abducted in Iraq, in an interview published on Sunday. "The kidnapping has nothing to do with the nature of our religion and also finds no justification in the Koran," the chairman of the Islamic Council for Germany, Ali Kizilkaya, told Bild am Sonntag. "I call on the kidnappers in the name of humanity: Let the innocent hostages go immediately."
Hannelore Krause, who is 61 and married to an Iraqi doctor, and their 20-year-old son Sinan, who works at the Iraqi foreign ministry, were seized on February 6. Sunday's appeal came after Krause's husband and Sinan's wife made an emotional plea for their release in a video message broadcast on channels in Germany and the Arab world Friday. And German President Horst Koehler last week also called for their release in a video broadcast. Earlier this month, a militant Islamist group in Iraq called the Kataeb Siham al-Haq (Righteous Arrows Battalions) threatened to execute the hostages unless Germany pulls its troops out of
Afghanistan.
Afghanistan.
Labels: Germany, Hannelore Krause, Islamic Council for Germany, Kataeb Siham al-Haq, kidnapping, Righteous Arrows Battalions
