MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) -- A video of eight Chinese construction workers taken hostage in Iraq surfaced Tuesday, just as the Vatican confirmed a Catholic archbishop had been released a day after he was kidnapped in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
The video shows the men holding opened passports as an Arabic speaker demanded that the Chinese government declare it would not allow its citizens to work for Americans in Iraq.
\\\"We have taken these individuals hostage as they were trying to leave Iraq,\\\" the voice said in Arabic. \\\"After interrogating them, we learned that they are Chinese working for a Chinese contracting company in Iraq. This company is carrying out the task of rebuilding one of the American bases.\\\"
The video shows the men in front of a wall, with four standing and four kneeling. Hooded guards stood on each side.
The voice, claiming to be a representative of The Islamic Resistance Movement, called on the Chinese government to issue a statement saying they would not allow their citizens to help \\\"their enemy, the Americans.\\\"
The terrorist group, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has released previous videos showing foreign workers pleading for their government\\\'s help.
In Tuesday\\\'s video, the camera zoomed in for a close look at each passport, which indicated three of the hostages were teenagers -- 17, 18 and 19 years old.
An official at China\\\'s embassy in Baghdad said her government \\\"presumes\\\" the men are Chinese but could not immediately confirm it. The state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted sources in China\\\'s embassy confirming the men were from China\\\'s southern province of Fujian who were in Iraq to help rebuild an Iraqi plant.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Vatican in Rome said Basil George Casmoussa was safely released and no ransom was paid.
There were reports that the kidnappers used Casmoussa\\\'s cell phone to demand a $200,000 ransom for the 66-year-old archbishop.
Monsignor Tomas Hadid, a spokesman for the Vatican Embassy in Baghdad, said he had spoken to Casmoussa after he was released and said he\\\'s \\\"grateful to God\\\" for the archbishop\\\'s release.
Casmoussa is a member of the Chaldean Church, part of a group of independent but related Eastern Catholic Churches that accept the pope as their head. While the group accepts the doctrine and celebrates the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, it uses its own liturgy and customs.
Casmoussa was outside a private residence on a main road in al-Muhendisin, in Mosul, when he was abducted Monday, said Kahsro Goran, deputy governor of Nineveh province.
Christians are a minority in Iraq, which is 97 percent Muslim. But thousands of Christians live in the Mosul area.
There have been several recent attacks on Christian targets in Iraq, including the bombings of several churches.
[ Last edited by 五湖散人 on 2005-1-18 at 22:13 ]作者: 水瓶座小天天 时间: 2005-1-18 22:11
都是福建人..........作者: shishi 时间: 2005-1-18 22:18
好像要中国政府表明伊拉克问题的立场，作者: shouzhu 时间: 2005-1-18 22:28 标题: point 1
This company is carrying out the task of rebuilding one of the American bases.作者: shouzhu 时间: 2005-1-18 22:30 标题: point2
issue a statement saying they would not allow their citizens to help \"their enemy, the Americans.\"作者: shouzhu 时间: 2005-1-18 22:31 标题: sehen Sie ,unsere Regierung!
the men are Chinese but could not immediately confirm it.作者: shouzhu 时间: 2005-1-18 22:34 标题: 3.die sind keine Muslim.
here have been several recent attacks on Christian targets in Iraq, including the bombings of several churches.作者: wo 时间: 2005-1-19 13:29
