France Awaits Reporters in Jordan "Soon"

Additional Reporting By Mustafa Abdel-Halim, IOL staff

BAGHDAD, September 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - France Friday, September,3 , was making final preparations to secure the safe transfer of its two nationals, being hostages in Iraq, to Jordan after their "imminent" release, a member of the French Muslim mission told IslamOnline.net.

"(The problem) of taking the two hostages to Amman remains the hottest now, as efforts are there to guarantee their personal safety after the hoped-for imminent release," Mohamed Bechari.

Bechari, vice president of the French Council for Muslim Faith (CFCM), is one of the three-man delegation, who had gone to Iraq to stress the message that French Muslims rejected the kidnappers' pressure.

Speaking by telephone from Amman, after wrapping up a Baghdad visit, he told IOL that Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot are "alive and in good health".

Asked when he expects the release of the two journalists, Bechari said briefly: "We await their release soon".

"Muslims all over the world hope that it will be today, Friday - which is a holy day for Muslims," he said, without elaborating.

"I could not go over all details now, only after their release," he said.

Another member of the French Muslim delegation said earlier in the day the kidnappers wish to free the hostages.

"But they do not know how to do it because they are afraid about the Americans and also that the hostages could fall into the hands of another group. These are the obstacles to freeing them," said Fouad Allaoui.

"Fear From Americans"

Bechari refused to comment on Allaoui’s statements, only saying: "There are parties who do not want France to have a moderate policy on Iraq."

Paris has been a staunch opponent to the US-led invasion of Iraq, and has adamantly paid no heed to US calls for send troops to the oil-rich but flashpoint country.

One expert on the Iraqi fighters told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the two Frenchmen were being held in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and suggested US strike on the town Wednesday, September1 , risked complicating the negotiations.

The strike killed twenty people, including three children, women and elderly men.

Chesnot and Malbrunot disappeared in Iraq on August20 , the day they were to have left Baghdad for the Shiite holy city of Najaf, then the scene of fierce fighting between US forces and Shiite militia loyal to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.

Amman

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and the French Muslim delegation were in Jordan Friday hoping for the liberation of two French hostages.

"We are holding a working meeting. There is an operational team with the minister and we are in permanent contact with Baghdad and Paris," an assistant to Barnier said.

French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said Thursday: "We know they are alive and no longer in the hands of the abductors who had held them."

"I hope that we will, perhaps this night, tomorrow or in the next few hours be able once and for all to turn the page on this tragic event while remaining vigilant," he said.

He warned, however, that "our two compatriots are not in complete security with French forces."

Barnier made similar comments at a news conference in Amman late Thursday.

"According to the information we have received, which is being studied with the greatest care, the two journalists are alive and in good health and being well treated," said Barnier, who has been fiercely campaigning for their release.

Jean de Belot, managing editor of Le Figaro - an employer of the two captives - said the kidnappers have handed them over to a Sunni Muslim opposition group.

He said the group favors their release but he stressed their status wasn't clear.

"That is an extremely positive point," de Belot told French radio.

"But we must be prudent in this kind of mixed-up situation because we know well that until the good news arrives, we can't let ourselves be absolutely reassured," he added.

"Matter of Time"

The Muslim delegation sounded upbeat after talks with the influential Council of the Muslim Ulema (scholars), an association of Sunni scholars who have helped mediate previous hostage releases in Iraq.

"They are out of danger as was declared yesterday by Sheikh Hareth al-Dhari, their release could just be a matter of time," said Sheikh Abdel Salam al-Kubeisi, an influential cleric on the Committee of Muslim Scholars.

Kubeisi's organization has privileged contacts with the Sunni groups operating in Iraq.

The capture of the two French journalists has drawn international condemnation and unprecedented appeals for their release from Muslim leaders across the globe.

The hostages, facing death, warned in a video that they the death threat was real if France did not revoke the hijab law, but Paris has vowed to stand its ground saying it must protect the country's strictly secular traditions.

The law prohibiting the wearing of hijab and "conspicuous" religious insignia such as Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses went into effect Thursday with the start of the academic year in France.

According to Islamic scholars, it is no escaping in Islam that captives should be treated well and that their human rights should be observed.

"Moreover, the Qur'an treats the captives on an equal footing with the weak categories of society that deserve sympathy and charity such as the orphans and the needy," said prominent Muslim leader Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi in one edict.