French reporter, aide freed in Iraq

Combo of two pictures given by Reporters Without Borders showing French ex-hostage Florence Aubenas, left, and Iraqi guide Hussein Hanoun Al-Saadi. Aubenas and Al-Saadi were freed Saturday after a five-month hostage ordeal in Iraq. The pair were abducted in Baghdad Jan. 5, triggering a public campaign in France and Europe to have them released. PHOTO: AFP

A French journalist, Florence Aubenas, and her Iraqi interpreter have been freed in Iraq after a five-month hostage ordeal, officials in Paris said yesterday, setting off a wave of relief in France -- but also raising questions as to whether a ransom was paid.

Aubenas and the interpreter, Hussein Hanun, were "in good health," President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address.

"On behalf of everyone, I want to express to Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanun our happiness and that of the entire nation to know that they are free and will soon be returning to us," he said.

After a brief stopover in Cyprus, Aubenas headed home to Paris, where she was expected late yesterday, on a government jet accompanied by French Foreign Minister Phillippe Douste-Blazy. Hanun returned to his family in Baghdad.

Chirac paid homage to an "exceptional" public campaign in France and elsewhere that had pressed for the pair's release, as well as to Aubenas' family and to the French intelligence and military services deployed in Iraq.

The left-wing Paris newspaper Liberation for which Aubenas worked said the two were freed Saturday.

"We are completely swept away with joy at Liberation. It's a huge relief after five months of nightmare," managing editor Antoine de Gaudemar said.

No details about the circumstances of the release were given, and authorities did not identify the hostage-takers.

The last time the French public had seen Aubenas was March 1, when a video was released of her looking gaunt and desperate and pleading for help.

Aubenas' mother, Jacqueline, said "we're so happy" at the news and added that Chirac had telephoned her Saturday to give her the news but asked that the family keep it quiet.

"Florence is a very strong person. Certainly she must be affected by her detention, but Florence will become Florence very quickly. I have total confidence in my daughter," she told LCI Television.

France's politicians and media joined in the chorus of expressions of happiness and relief at the news.

The European Commission, in a statement, also welcomed the release, and called on "the different groups in Iraq to free all remaining hostages in captivity and pursue their goals through the political process and not through violence and intimidation."