Jordan Times
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Jordanian hostage
arrives home after two-month ordeal
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN — A Jordanian embassy driver held hostage
for two months in Iraq was greeted by Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Saturday
on his return to the Kingdom, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib, Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff General Khalid Sarayreh and senior
officials were also at the airport to welcome Mahmoud Saaidat, as well as
several of his family members and friends.
Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, the premier, informed Saaidat of the
intense efforts to secure his release.
“The relentless efforts and ongoing follow-up from King Abdullah with various
government institutions were very successful,” Petra quoted Bakhit as telling
Saaidat.
The prime minister also thanked all those who played a part in the release.
For his part, Saaidat said he was “grateful to the King for his care,” Petra
reported.
Saaidat was then taken directly to the King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman for
treatment after complaining of not feeling well, according to Petra.
Saaidat's abductors released him last week after more than two months in
captivity.
He was abducted on Dec. 20 near his home in south Baghdad by masked gunmen.
His kidnappers had repeatedly threatened to kill him unless Jordan cut relations
with Iraq and released Sajida Atrous Rishawi, the female suicide bomber whose
explosive belt failed to detonate when she and three fellow terrorists attacked
three of the capital's hotels in November 2005, killing 60 people.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian fugitive Abu Mussab Zarqawi, claimed
responsibility for the attacks.
In a televised broadcast on Jordan TV, Rishawi confessed to attempting to
detonate her explosive belt in one of the three hotels.
In a videotape aired in December on the Al Arabiya satellite channel, Saaidat
said his captors had wrapped him in an explosive belt and threatened to detonate
it in four days if their demands were not met.
Government officials insisted that all of the kidnappers' demands were rejected.
Since the news broke of Saaidat's release his family in the town of Taibeh,
250km south of Amman, have been gearing up for his arrival, decorating the
entire neighbourhood with lanterns.
“We cannot wait to have him back with us,” said his 32-year-old brother Hassan.
Saaidat is not the first Jordanian to be targeted in Iraq. In September 2005, a
Jordanian embassy vehicle came under fire in Baghdad. All of the passengers,
including a Jordanian diplomat, escaped unhurt, but two people in the car behind
were killed.
Two weeks ago, an Iraqi driver working for the Jordanian embassy was shot dead
by assailants who seized his vehicle and fled.
More than 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the US-led invasion
in 2003. At least 39 have been killed.