American Hostages In Egypt Released

High_Gravity

Belligerent Drunk
Nov 19, 2010
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Richmond VA
Huh? I didn't even know we had any hostages in Egypt.

American Hostages In Egypt Released

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EL-ARISH, Egypt -- The head of Egyptian security in North Sinai and the kidnapper say two Americans and their Egyptian tour guide, abducted four days ago, have been released.

Gen. Ahmed Bakr, head of security in North Sinai, says the three were now in the protection of Egyptian security officials in Sinai.

The kidnapper, Jirmy Abu-Masuh, says he freed them Monday after officials promised they would work on releasing his uncle from prison.

He told The Associated Press by telephone after releasing the Americans that he wanted to grant them mercy, because they had nothing to do with his dispute with police.

American Hostages In Egypt Released
 
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Now if only the Obama Administration would release the 312+ Million people being held hostage here in the United States. There's talk it will happen in November.
 
Kidnapper: Why I nabbed two Americans in Egypt's Sinai

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Jirmy Abu Masouh was desperate.

Police had arrested his uncle and accused him of drug possession. Mr. Abu Masouh, a Bedouin living in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, says his uncle is innocent, but no one would listen to him.

So he did what Bedouin in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula have increasingly done in the past 18 months when they have had a grievance against the government: He kidnapped two American tourists and their Egyptian guide.

Massachusetts residents Rev. Michel Louis and Lissa Alphonse were traveling to St. Catherine’s, an ancient monastery at the foot of the mountain where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments, with their guide, Haytham Ragab, when Abu Masouh took the three of them from a bus on July 13.

“My voice was dead, and when I kidnapped, my voice was heard. When [the Americans] called the American embassy and told them about my uncle, people now have heard me,” said Abu-Masouh in a phone interview from Sinai.

Abu Masouh released his hostages unharmed yesterday after three days of negotiations with Egyptian security officials, and they were reunited with their group in Israel today. His uncle has not been released.

Their saga is typical of many of the brief abductions of foreigners by Bedouins that have happened in the last year and a half in Sinai. The kidnappers are not militants; they are not motivated by religious extremism and don't ask for ransom from the hostages' families. They want concessions from the authorities, like the release of imprisoned relatives.

And after decades of being marginalized and discriminated against by the government, and nearly a decade of police crackdowns, they say kidnapping foreigners is one of the only ways to force authorities to listen to their demands. With the security vacuum that has prevailed since the anti-Mubarak uprising last year, foreign tourists in Sinai are fairly easy targets.

Kidnapper: Why I nabbed two Americans in Egypt's Sinai - CSMonitor.com
 

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