Jordan Times
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Kidnappers of Jordanian demand
$500,000 in ransom
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN — The employer of a Jordanian recently abducted in Iraq said on Monday the
kidnappers were demanding $500,000 in ransom.
Mohammad Ajlouni, the regional director of
Iraq-based Starlite transport company, told The Jordan Times that he was
telephoned by his kidnapped employee Hisham Taleb, who said the abductors wanted
the ransom. “It would be difficult to pay them such an amount of money because
the company is small,” said Ajlouni, who had announced that he was halting his
Iraq operations in line with the kidnappers' demand. “The firm lost a lot of
money and 51 of its employees lost their jobs because we stopped working there,”
added Ajlouni, who again denied the abductors' claim that Starlite was working
with the US army in Iraq.
Ahmad Ezza, the hostage's brother, said his family contacted Foreign Ministry
officials, who stressed that they were working hard to release the 56-year-old
accountant and father of seven.