Gihan Shahine talks to the Egyptian hostages who were released after several gruelling days in captivity "It was horror," was how telecom technician Issa Dawoud described being taken hostage in Iraq. "The kidnappers treated us nicely, but there was never a guarantee I would live to the next day. It was so difficult being so close to death." Dawoud was one of the six telecom technicians and engineers who were taken hostage in Iraq two weeks ago. The six worked for Iraqna, an Iraqi subsidiary of Egypt-based Orascom Telecom Holding, one of three companies licensed to build and operate an Iraqi mobile phone network. Four of the hostages were released last week: Alaa Maqar was the first to be freed, on Monday night; on Tuesday, Orascom announced that technicians Tarek Abdel-Latif, Medhat Rizq and Amir Dawoud had also been released. Although the two remaining hostages, engineers Mustafa Abdel-Latif and Mahmoud Torki, are reportedly "in good condition", their captors in Iraq are still holding on to them. Armed gunmen had grabbed Abdel- Latif and Torki during a bold raid on their residence in Baghdad late on Thursday 23 September, just one day after the four technicians, who worked for one of the company's subcontractors, were abducted from a remote location near the Syrian border, along with six Iraqi engineers who were released a few days later. Dawoud said he was on site with his colleagues doing maintenance work on one of the mobile networks near the Syrian border, when cars suddenly drove into the rocky valley, and around 13 masked gunmen opened fire on them. "I panicked," Dawoud said. "I stood still, almost tasting death." He said the gunmen forced the telecom technicians to kneel on the ground, searched them, forced them into their cars, and then drove away to a remote and unknown location. "The abductors told us they had been searching for Egyptian engineers," Dawoud recounted. "They didn't know we were technicians. They took us to seven different places during the six days we spent in captivity, and blindfolded us so that we could not figure out where we were. We would break into hysterical cries, especially when they removed our blindfolds and we saw that black-clad armed men had joined the plain-clothes group. The only thing that made us feel better was that the group always assured us that we were only there for interrogations, and would be released after we answered a few questions." According to Dawoud, the group's sheikh, or leader, led the interrogations. "We did not see his face, but he looked so young, small, and simply dressed," Dawoud noted. The sheikh started asking the hostages whether their employer had any Israeli ties, or was serving the US occupying forces in any way. While Maqar and Rizq were hesitant, having only joined the company a few days earlier, Abdel-Latif and Dawoud (the latter has been working for Orascom for 14 years) quickly confirmed that the company was "100 per cent Egyptian", and was actually "providing a service for Iraq, helping the Iraqi people re-build their war-torn country. "The group then handed us to another group, whose sheikh was extremely friendly," Dawoud said. "He said he found out Iraqna was Egyptian, and promised we would soon be released -- after negotiations with the company took place. He said we could remain in Iraq and continue working, because they didn't want us to lose our livelihood. They even said they would protect us if we stayed." The four technicians said they were "very well-treated" by their abductors. They told Al-Ahram Weekly the kidnappers provided them with food, cigarettes and clothes. They talked and joked with them, allowed them to pray, and gave them back all their belongings upon their release. The released hostages also said they were not subject to any kind of humiliation or torture. Maqar also attested to the captor's "extra nice treatment. They got me a doctor when I fell ill, brought me medicine, and released me when they feared my health would worsen if I were to stay longer. They even gave me money when they found out I did not have enough to take a taxi back to Baghdad." For Maqar, all of this provided clear proof that "the kidnappers actually belonged to Iraqi resistance groups who only wanted to liberate their country," and "are definitely not thieves." Dawoud, however, was sceptical: "Resistance groups usually warn people three times before they start taking action, and declare their demands immediately after the abduction, which was not the case with us." Dawoud said that many members of resistance groups had contacted the company over the past year, reportedly expressing their "gratitude for the company's services". "We used to have friends from the Iraqi resistance groups, who sometimes even offered to protect us in case anyone tried to harm us," Dawoud said. "They were so grateful we were providing services for their country. It would, thus, sound weird to assume that our kidnappers belonged to the Iraqi resistance groups, especially that the place where we were abducted from was notorious for crimes of theft and abduction." There are still no confirmed reports regarding either the identity of the captors, or whether there was any link between those who had abducted the two engineers, and those who kidnapped the four technicians. Iraqi tribal leaders and clerics, who acted as mediators in attempts made to release the hostages, told Egyptian diplomats that the abductors of the four technicians reportedly belonged to a tribe based near the Syrian border, and notorious for acts of robbery and kidnapping. No information, however, has been reported on the abductors of the two engineers. Farouk Mabrouk, head of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's delegation in Iraq, told the Weekly he "did not receive any information as to the identity of the abductors of the engineers or whether they will be released soon". A spokesman for Iraqna who spoke to the Weekly from Baghdad said that it was just "a matter of time" before the remaining two engineers would be set free. The spokesman did not elaborate on whether the company had actually received any calls from the abductors, or information about who or where they were, and what they were demanding. The only thing the company would say was that it was "exerting strenuous efforts to release the hostages". The spokesman, however, denied claims that the company allegedly paid ransoms of $30,000 to $50,000 to release the four technicians. "It was all a matter of misunderstanding between the abductors and the company," the spokesman said. "They just wanted to make sure we have nothing to do with Americans. But they did not ask for any money." Well-informed sources, however, told the Weekly that they were fairly certain that the company had paid $120,000 in ransom money to secure the release of the four technicians. Observers suggested that the company had to deny that it had paid a ransom, however, to guarantee the safety of its employees in Iraq. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Samaraai, a member of Iraq's Sunni Board of Islamic Clerics [which acts as a mediator in attempts to release hostages], said, "the abductors of the four technicians belonged to the Iraqi resistance." Al- Samaraai, who has chosen not to negotiate with kidnappers after the board was "unfairly accused of alleged complicity with the kidnappers", said he based his judgement on the fact that the abductors treated their hostages well, and then released them when they found out they had no relationship with the US occupying force. Al-Samaraai said the abductors probably asked for a ransom "because they felt the company had already ripped Iraqis off by providing an extremely expensive mobile service, and said they wanted the money, not for themselves, but to fund the resistance." At least 100 foreigners have been taken hostage in a recent spate of abductions in Iraq. Whereas the majority of hostages were ultimately released, several have been slain, including two Americans who were beheaded by their captors this week when US officials did not respond to demands to release all female Iraqi prisoners. "There are two groups of kidnappers in Iraq: those who belong to national resistance groups, and gangs that commit their acts of robbery under the banner of resistance," Al-Samaraai told the Weekly. He said the difference between the two groups was clear in the way they handled the abduction. "True resistance groups usually abduct people to conduct interrogations; then they either release them, if [the hostages] prove innocent, or kill them if they are found to be spying for the US." Although the board has clearly condemned acts of abduction, it has not issued an official fatwa forbidding them. Al-Samaraai insisted, however, "that unlike many of my colleagues who consider abduction, for the purpose of interrogation, a legitimate act of resistance, I personally object to the kidnapping of civilians, whatever the goal, because it greatly mars the image of Islam and national resistance. "Even if the abductors treat their hostages very well and ultimately set them free when they are proven innocent, Islam prohibits frightening civilians, even in times of war," Al-Samaraai said. That fright has forced most of Iraqna's 134 Egyptian technicians back into the throes of unemployment and poverty. They came back to Cairo last week on the same planes as their recently released colleagues. Although some vowed never to return to "scary Iraq", many were just as scared of ending up "either jobless or in low-paid jobs" back here at home. "We risked our lives in Iraq to make ends meet," said a technician, who asked to have his name withheld. "I would go back to Iraq rather than see my family starve. And I am sure many would do the same." While the fate of the two engineers still being held remains unclear, Orascom itself appears to be plowing on with work on its $100 million investment in Iraq. Witnesses told the Weekly that construction of mobile networks, along with other infrastructure work at Baghdad airport, has been ongoing, despite the mass exodus of Egyptian technicians. The company, it seems, is now mainly dependent on its remaining Iraqi and foreign staff.
