ASsman
09-29-2004, 06:45 AM
Italy 'paid $1m to free hostages'
A senior Italian politician says he believes that a ransom of $1m or more was paid for the release of two female Italian aid workers kidnapped in Iraq.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said no money was paid.
But Gustavo Selva, head of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the denial was purely "official".
The BBC's Guto Harri in Rome says Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has fuelled the rumours by talking of "a difficult choice which had to be made".
"The young women's life was the most important thing," Mr Selva, a member of the Northern League, one of the parties in Italy's governing coalition, told French RTL radio.
"In principle, one should not give in to blackmail, but this time I think we had to give in - even though this opens a dangerous path because it is obvious that both for political or criminal reasons, this path can make others want to take others hostage to make some money."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3700480.stm
A senior Italian politician says he believes that a ransom of $1m or more was paid for the release of two female Italian aid workers kidnapped in Iraq.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said no money was paid.
But Gustavo Selva, head of the Italian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the denial was purely "official".
The BBC's Guto Harri in Rome says Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has fuelled the rumours by talking of "a difficult choice which had to be made".
"The young women's life was the most important thing," Mr Selva, a member of the Northern League, one of the parties in Italy's governing coalition, told French RTL radio.
"In principle, one should not give in to blackmail, but this time I think we had to give in - even though this opens a dangerous path because it is obvious that both for political or criminal reasons, this path can make others want to take others hostage to make some money."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3700480.stm