Warrants Issued in Journalist Kidnapping (businessman ruse to avoid jail)

[Robbien]

A Romanian court issued arrest warrants Friday in the kidnappings of three journalists in Iraq, saying the abductions were plotted by the Iraqi-American guide who claimed to be a victim and the businessman who claimed to be negotiating their release.

. . .

Monaf, charged in absentia, was reported to have been held with the journalists and was seen with them in videotapes released by the captors. But after his release, he was transferred to U.S. custody in Baghdad and held for questioning regarding information about "imminent attacks" on coalition forces in Iraq, the U.S. embassy in Bucharest has said.

The two men plotted the kidnapping while in Romania and the motivation for the ruse was that Hayssam, one of Romania's wealthiest businessman, was under investigation for financial wrongdoing, prosecutors said. He apparently hoped that "saving" the journalists would help him get clemency, they said.

. . .

Hayssam claimed after the journalists' kidnapping that he received a phone call from the kidnappers demanding $4 million in exchange for their freedom. He told the court Friday he had raised thousands of dollars to send to the kidnappers to secure the journalists' release, but the money never made it out of Syria. He denies involvement in the kidnapping.

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