14
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, November 21, 1991
Hostage release signals end to kidnapping; Iranian papers say more to be freed soon
The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon — In another sign that the hostage saga is drawing to a close, the umbrella group for the hostage-holders said yesterday that the three remaining American captives will be released soon. Iran indicated that Joseph Cicippio could be released next week.
In Washington, the administration said prospects for freedom for the remaining U.S. hostages "looked brighter than they have for a long time."
American Thomas Sutherland, one of the two hostages freed Monday after an exhaustive diplomatic effort by U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, recounted his ordeal to reporters at the military hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he is recuperating.
"I could almost say it's been worth waiting for, but it was a heck of a long wait — 2,347 days," said Sutherland. 60. He described being kept in chains and in dark cells and of once beaten until he screamed in pain.
The other hostage freed Monday,
Church of England envoi Terry Waite, spout a quiet day dester with his family.
Waite's family said he wanted to respond to suggestions that Waite's own efforts to free hostages were compromised by his contacts with former White House alice Oliver North, who was at the White House in Anti-Conta arms-for-hostages affair.
But the family indicated Waite would spend more time recuperating before making public statements about the matter.
In Beirut, Abbas Musawi, secretary-general of the pro-Iranian Hebboll, or party of God, said future hostage releases would not be linked to the release of Arabs detainees held by Israel or an amputation of missing Israeli servicemen.
Since Perez de Cuellar's mediation drive began in August, hostage releases have been part of a complex overall deal involving the Arab detainees and Israeli men. But that has changed, the secretary-general told reporters on Tuesday.
prospects for the speed release of the remaining captives.
"As the kidnap factions have clearly stated, the issue of the Western hostages is heading to a final solution in the coming few weeks," he said. "We should differentiate between the issue of the (Israeli) prisoners and (Arab) detainees and that of the Western hostages."
Hezeball denies being involved in the kidnapping of hostages. But the Shiite Muslims holding the Westerners are known to operate under its protection.
Iran, which has long supported the kidnapping groups, indicated yesterday that another Western hostage will be released next week.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, in a dispatch from Beirut, said Cicippio "stood a better chance" of being freed first than the two other Americans still held in Lebanon — Terry Anderson and Alann Steen.
The prediction that Cippio would be freed after more than five years of captivity cheered his family in Norristown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.
"We've been waiting an awful long time for this to happen. ... We hope to see Joseph in the very near future," said Thomas Cicciopp, the captive's brother.
Cicippio's wife Ehlam, reached by telephone at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut where she works, said: "It's great. I'm glad. It's good news."
Also yesterday, an Iranian newspaper that has accurately predicted previous hostage releases reported that one or two hostages could be freed within two weeks.
But the English-language Tehran Times linked their fate to that of Arab prisoners held by Israel, saying "pressure is still needed to be put on Israel" to free them.
On Monday, Waite said his captors had told him two American captives would be freed within five days and that Anderson would be let out by the end of the month. The 44-year-old Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, is the longest-hated Western hostage. He was kidnapped March 16, 1985.
Israeli-allied militia raids Lebanon town
The Associated Press
TYRE, Lebanon - An Israeli-affiliated militia said one of its patrols blew up two houses in a village yesterday and arrested suspected pro-Iranian guerrillas. U.N. officials said the explosions killed a girl and wounded five people.
The incident touched off an uprear among Shiite Muslims, who make up the largest sect in Lebanon. Nabih Berrri, a Cabinet minister who heads the pro-Syrian Shiite Amal militia, called for a general strike in southern Lebanon today to protest the attack.
The radio station of the South Lebanon Army said militiamen from the Israeli-supported group carried out the attack to capture members of the fundamentalist Shite Muslim group Hezbollah, or party of God. It did not say how many
people were taken away
Israel and its ally have escalated attacks on villages in southern Lebanon after fundamentalist Muslim guerrillas stepped up their raids in recent weeks to protest the beginning of Middle East peace talks.
Timur Goksel, representative for the U.N. Intrin Force in Lebanon, said armed men entered the U.N.-policed village of Majal Selim at 2:30 a.m., and took away two men, their wives and their six children.
Two older boys were taken into Israel's self-proclaimed "security zone" farther south along with their fathers, the sources said.
He said the women and young children were later released and were returning to their adjacent homes when the buildings blew up.
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