Jordan Times
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Three Jordanian drivers freed
in Iraq
AMMAN (Agencies) Three Jordanian truck drivers held hostage in Iraq since last
week have been freed and were on their way back home, a Foreign Ministry
official confirmed late Tuesday.
The official, who was not identified by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, said the
Jordanian embassy in Baghdad had informed the ministry that the three were
released by their captors and that they were already on their way to the
Kingdom.
The three were identified by the official as Atta Haddad, Mahmoud Abu Zaitoun
and Jamal Shneik.
Haddad's wife told Agence France-Presse that her husband had phoned her from the
Iraqi-Jordanian border to say that he and the two others had been freed without
paying any ransom.
Earlier in the day, the owner of a Jordanian truck company announced a halt to
his firm's activities in Iraq in an effort to save the three drivers.
I have decided to stop my firm's activity in Iraq to ensure the release of the
three drivers, Abdullah Fadi Al Masalmeh of Al Safa Company told AFP. I am
ready to do anything to secure their release.
The three were snatched by gunmen in Iraq on Nov. 2, while a fourth trucker was
killed when his vehicle overturned as he tried to flee, according to the Foreign
Ministry.
The abductor told me that his group wants the Jordanian government to prevent
Jordanian trucks from going to Iraq and demands as well that my company stop
working with Iraq, Masalmeh said.
Masalmeh, who works with an Iraqi firm in food distribution, said the abductors
never called him back with any other demands and did not ask for a ransom.
Abdul Rahim Al Jammal, a regional head of the Jordanian Truck Drivers' Union,
said last week the drivers were abducted near the flashpoint city of Fallujah
after unloading refrigerated goods in Iraq.
Following the abduction of a Jordanian businessman last month, the authorities
advised Jordanians against non-essential travel to Iraq, although they said the
authorities could not prevent them.