Screen shot of the video posted by the FRC shows the Swiss hostages surrounded by gunmen
PAKISTAN – A Bern couple kidnapped in Pakistan Friday 1 July are reportedly “alive and well” says the FATA Research Centre, FRC, a “non partisan and non-political research organization” based in Islamabad, which has obtained two videos of the hostages.
In one of the videos posted by the FRC, David, 28, a police officer in Bern, calls in English for the release of a “Dr Aafia from US custody” and for the release of Taliban prisoners from Pakistani custody in exchange for the couple’s release.
“Let them go! We are in danger,” says the man.”If you don’t do this, it is possible that we will die,” he added.
In a second video, the Swiss couple is seen surrounded by masked gunmen.
The couple speaking in Swiss-German requests the release of Taliban prisoners. It is believed that one of the videos was shot in late August, the other, in late September.
David, and his traveling companion, Daniela, 31, were kidnapped as they returned to Switzerland, in the Balochistan province, which has borders with Afghanistan and Iran, an area considered dangerous.
The Swiss government advises against non-essential travel there.
Video of the FRC Read more…
Piedad Córdoba, a Colombian politican, and the ICRC helped negotiate the releases - Photo Ricardo Bello
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two hostages were released Friday 11 February by Farc rebels in Colombia. They released another hostage earlier in the week and have said they intend to free two more Sunday.
The International Red Cross (ICRC) based in Geneva, and a former Colombian senator, Piedad Cordoba, have mediated the releases.
Farc is known to be holding at least 15 other hostages.
The two men were released in separate locations near the jungle in Caqueta, a department in the south of the country.
Michael Kramer, deputy head of the ICRC’s Colombian delegation, says that Marcos Baquero, a municipal councillor, who was freed on Wednesday, 9 February, was the first of the group. Kramer details how what happens when a hostage is freed.
“When we receive them, we talk to them for a while at the place of the handover in order to prepare them for a return to their usual environment.” In Baquero’s case, “We are waiting until the ICRC doctor has examined him and has talked to him about his captivity, his family and his expectations. What is striking is the feeling of time loss experienced by people who have been in the hands of an armed group, not to mention the psychological after-effects and the exhaustion caused by captivity.”
Besancon, France (GenevaLunch) – The French town of Besancon, near the Swiss border, is breathing more easily early Tuesday after 20 young children and their teacher, taken hostage at 08:30 at their school, returned home safely, with no one injured. A 17-year-old was arrested after holding a small group of the four- to six-year-olds hostage. He is described by police as psychologically fragile and known for having a history of mental illness and depression but no police record. He lives with his mother, near the school and was carrying two swords, but the teacher who was held hostage said she never felt in danger. Police cordoned off the school during the standoff. The youth reportedly had not been taking medication prescribed to him.
Nigerian military forces say they freed 19 hostages in an operation in the country’s main oil-producing region.
One French national, a Canadian and 17 Nigerians were freed 17 November by the country’s security forces.
The victims were all taken hostage in recent raids on facilities in the country’s Niger Delta region, the heart of one of the world’s largest oil industries.
The Canadian government says it is “relieved” the hostages were freed.
In an emotional interview on Caracol television from New York, former hostage Ingrid Betancourt defended her $7.5 million claim for compensation from the Colombian government for her six years as a hostage of the FARC rebels. She was released in a spectacular government rescue operation in July 2008. Her claims have unleashed astonishment and indignation in Colombia, where many feel it was Betancourt’s irresponsible behaviour as a presdidential candidate in 2002 that led to her kidnapping by the FARC rebels.
Betancourt says that her claim is “symbolic”, and that she was not irresponsible. She said she would not sue the government if the claim was rejected. Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said her claim wins “the world prize for ingratitude”, according to Reuters.
Swiss President Doris Leuthard
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A hallmark of the Swiss political system, the “collegiality” of the Federal Council or ruling seven-member cabinet, is under pressure from politicians and Swiss media following disclosures about the handling of the recently resolved Libyan affair. Politicians have expressed concern about possible military involvement. Swiss military intervention abroad is strictly limited by the country’s neutrality. Media have been insisting the disclosures show a serious lack of communication within the Federal Council.
Tuesday 22 June a permanent parliamentary group issued a terse statement to say that it met Monday with the Federal Council to review the handling of the Libyan affair. The statement noted that it had been informed “relatively early” of plans by the Defense Department to stage a rescue of the businessmen, considered hostages, if the situation developed in such a way this would be called for. The statement provides no date, however, and it is unclear when the plans were developed by the Defense Department.
Le Temps and TSR question if the plans existed when then-President Hans-Rudolf Merz flew to Libya, without informing other Federal Council members, to apologize to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi over his son’s arrest. Was Merz aware of such plans, they ask, but given the secrecy surrounding the plans, no explanations appear likely.
Rashid Hamdani, left and Max Goeldi, right, at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in 2009
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government remains officially silent but news reports from journalists in Tripoli, including a Reuters reporter, say that Swiss businessman Max Goeldi has surrendered to Libya authorities, to begin a four-month prison sentence. The Swiss will ask for clemency, and if it is granted, Human Rights Watch says, this would be a sign that the political crisis is over between Switzerland and Libya.
Libyan security forces surrounded the Swiss embassy in Tripoli after giving Switzerland a deadline to hand over Goeldi, who has been staying at the embassy. The second Swiss businessman held by Libya but whose charges were recently dropped, Rashid Hamdani from the Lake Geneva region, appears to have been allowed to leave the embassy and is reported to have traveled to Tunisia by car.
Background, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Amnesty International, Le Temps (Fre), TSR (Fre)
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - The European Commission reacted to Libya’s ban on visas for Schengen residents by saying it will meet later in the week to discuss the abrupt decision by Muammar Qadaffi’s government. Cecilia Malmstroem of Sweden, the commissioner for home affairs, provided a more immediate response: “The European Commission deplores the unilateral and disproportionate decision by Libyan authorities to suspend the delivery of visas to EU Schengen countries’ citizens. The commission also regrets that travelers who legally obtained visas before the suspension measure were refused entry when arriving in Libya.”
It is unclear if the move includes diplomats, but there are reports that people arriving in Tripoli with visas are being refused entry at the airport.
The visa ban appears to be in retaliation for an unconfirmed ban on travel to Switzerland, a member of the Schengen area, by close to 200 Libyans. Switzerland has not issued any information along these lines and the Swiss government has refused to confirm the information, which was reported by a Libyan newspaper generally considered close to one of Qadaffi’s sons.
Rachid Hamdani, Max Goeldi, Swiss detained in Libya (©2009 DR / Amnesty International)
Tripoli, Libya (GenevaLunch) - The two Swiss men detained in Libya, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, appear together in a photo for the first time, distributed by Amnesty International’s Swiss office as a way of thanking the public for its support in recent days. Virtual candles have been lit in growing numbers since the start of December at www.bougieenlibye.ch and by today, 10 December and International Human Rights Day, 10,000 candles have been lit for the two men. They have also received more than 4,500 messages of support via Internet. Some 25,000 postcards from the public in Switzerland are also en route to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, for the men.
The men read messages sent via Twitter several times a day, on a computer at the embassy, where they are staying while they await a second trial. A first trial found the men guilty of tax and visa irregularities. They were detained in July 2008, shortly after the arrest in Geneva of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader.
“All these messages of support are really helping Rachid and me – they give us the courage to carry on, to remain hopeful,” Goeldi told Amnesty International eariler this week.
Background stories, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Amnesty International Switzerland, Virtual candles for Rachid and Max
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said in Geneva Tuesday 8 December that Libya should release two men detained there since July 2008, calling their detention “unfair” and an abuse of their rights.
Pillay, speaking ata news conference in Geneva, said, “I think the detention of the two Swiss businessmen appears to be a violation because they were detained in custody for a long time before the government of Libya announced that they were now subject to judicial proceedings for tax evasion. Their detention seems to be unfair and there has been no proper explanation for them. They appear to be victims of a state level dispute between Libya and Switzerland and should in my view be released as soon as possible. Individuals should not be made to suffer because of bad relations between states.”
The two men were detained shortly after Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son Hannibal was arrested in Geneva in 2008.
Background stories, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: PressTV, Iran, Reuters Alertnet, UN Human Rights Commissioner
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has suspended its 20 August 2009 agreement with Libya designed to improve relations and is restricting visas issued to Libyans. The Federal Council (cabinet) noted in a press release Wednesday 4 November that Tripoli has refused all collaboration and that “the two Swiss citizens, who were taken in violation of international law, are still being held in an unknown area. The Libyan authorities refuse to allow anyone to visit them.”
An attack described by officers at “extraordinary”, on Pakistan’s military hedquarters in Rawalpindi, has killed six soldiers and four of the gunmen who attacked, but another four attackers are holding 15 hostages, Reuters reports late Saturday. The gunmen appear to be Taliban, and the attack occured just as a major offensive against the Taliban is scheduled to start.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Details are surfacing slowly but steadily in the strange saga of the two Swiss men held by the Libyan government and Switzerland’s efforts to bring them home. The latest wrinkle is that the Swiss government has confirmed media reports from Wednesday 9 September that one of the two has had private contacts with the family of the Libyan prime minister and that he is living some 200 km from Tripoli, but reports in regularly to the Swiss embassy. The other man, ABB employee Max Goeldi, has opted to live at the embassy, and he has accepted the embassy’s offer to give him small amounts of work to do to fill his time.
Earlier media reports and government information indicated that the two men have been living at the Swiss embassy in Tripoli.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The fate of two Swiss businessmen held in Libya continues to cause debate in Switzerland. A foreign relations committee of the lower house of parliament Tuesday 8 September examined the letter sent by Libya that had reportedly promised the release of the men by the end of August. They remain in Libya and Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has come under pressure from politicians and the media to insist that Libya keeps its part of the contract that should bring the men home and set up an independent commission to investigate the arrest in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi and his wife. Neue Zuercher Zietung interviewed Libya’s vice president for foreign affairs, Khaled Kaim, who spoke of a misunderstanding concerning the language of the letter (see letter in full, below).
Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz
Update 16.10 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Libya has named Saad Jabbar as its representative on an independent tribunal that is part of its 20 August agreement with Switzerland, which is designed to end a diplomatic impasse. Jabbar is a British lawyer who reportedly worked with Libya in the Lockerbie bomb affair. The move is the first sign this week that Libya intends to respect the agreement.
The Swiss Federal Council (cabinet) said Wednesday afternoon 2 September that it will respect the agreement signed with Libya, despite Libya’s failure to release two Swiss citizens by the end of August, also part of the agreement. The government says it will insist that Libya, too, hold up its end of the bargain.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss public radio, RSR, reports that Libya is asking for CHF430,000 as a downpayment for the return of each of two businessmen who have been held in the country for over a year. Bern has not confirmed the information.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A British lawyer will represent Switzerland in the independent tribunal that will look into the detention in Geneva in 2008 of Hannibal Qaddafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi, and his wife.
The Swiss Federal Council has designated Elizabeth Wilmshurst as its third party judge to participate in the tribunal.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government late Friday issued a statement emphasizing that it is implementing every detail of its agreement with Libya as rapidly as possible to ensure the safe return of two businessmen who have been held in Libya since July 2008. The Libyan government has, for its part, supplied a written statement that it will allow the men to leave by the end of August.
The Swiss military plane that landed in Libya to pick up the two men returned in the early hours of Friday without the men - but carrying the luggage, according to the official Swiss statement, without clarifying why the luggage was sent on.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The “Falcon”, a Swiss military plane used by the Federal Council, flew back from Tripoli, Libya, to Switzerland during the night of 27-28 August, carrying the delegation from the president’s office who flew there to seek the return of two businessmen held hostage for over a year. The two men did not return with them. Bern issued a brief statement saying that the plane is needed for other purposes but that “the preparations for their return are continuing.”
The men have been held since July 2008 as part of the fallout from an incident involving the arrest of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the Libyan leader, and his wife at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva for abusing their staff.
Update 19:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two Swiss men who have been held in Libya and living at the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli since July 2008, and who were expected to fly home Tuesday, are still in Libya. The Swiss government raised its veil of silence late Wednesday 26 August with a statement on the situation, noting that “The Libyan Prime Minister informed the President in writing this morning that it was only a matter of time before the administrative procedures required in Libya were finalised.” The two businessmen have been issued exit visas to leave the country.
The men are now awaiting permission from Libyan judicial authorities to take a plane back to Switzerland. A team from the Swiss president’s office is in Tripoli waiting to accompany them.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The curious and much-publicized case of the Swiss president apparently deciding unilaterally to apologize to Libya’s leader Mouammar Qadaffi over the arrest of the latter’s son in Geneva in July 2008 is taking another turn. TSR television reports that a Swiss government airplane has left Bern for Libya, possibly to pick up two Swiss men who have been held hostage there for more than a year.
Update 23:10 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Werner Greiner, a lawyer from Zurich, has been released in the north of Mali by the captors who have held him since January, the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department confirmed Sunday. Greiner was part of a group of six tourists taken hostage on a road from Mali to Niger where they were traveling after attending a music festival.
Update 11:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The third hostage taken by rebels in the southern Philippines six months ago was released early Sunday 12 July Manila time, the ICRC (International Red Cross)) has announced. Eugenio Vagni, an Italian citizen, was freed after 179 days in captivity and the ICRC says that although he is tired “given the circumstances [he] is doing remarkably well.” His fellow hostages and ICRC employees Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter were released in April.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A possible thaw in frosty relations between Bern and Tripoli may be in the offing, several observers have been telling Swiss media. Tensions rose between Switzerland and Libya in 2008 when the son of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader, was arrested in Geneva along with his wife for abusing a member of their staff while they were staying at the Hotel President Wilson.
Geneva sociologist and politician Jean Ziegler, who has had close contact for several years with Qadaffi, told the Tribune de Genève 3 June that there are indications an arbitration committee might be reactivated. Read more…
Up to 200 Naxalites, or Maoists, have boarded a train that was going from going from Barkakana in Jharkhand to Mugalsarai in India Wednesday 22 April, taking hostage some 700-800 passengers, according to the Times of India. First Western media reports are putting the number lower, at 200-300. The hostage-taking is part of a continuing series of violent acts in the leadup to elections to the area. The Indian government says no one has been harmed.
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – Geneva has approved a permit for a demonstration at the Place des Nations in support of two Swiss men being held in Libya. It will take place 23 April, when the Durban review conference on racism will be in full swing in Geneva. The organizer, Stephane Valent, a right-wing UDC representative for the commune of Vernier, says that Libya’s refusal to allow the two men to leave the country is racist.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Philippines media ABS-CBN News reports late Tuesday 31 March that Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan says no beheadings of ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) staff happened Tuesday despite the 14:00 deadline being passed. ABS-CBN says this matches reports from its sources. The Abu Sayyaf rebel group has threatened to behead one of the hostages it took 15 January.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two international organizations based in Geneva have issued urgent appeals to the captors of their employees to release them unharmed. Rebels in the Philippines, who are holding three ICRC (International Red Cross) employees, including Swiss Andreas Notter, are threatening to decapitate one of them if the army does not leave the area where they are held. Tuesday morning the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) told the kidnappers of John Solecki in Pakstan that they are entirely responsible for his health, expressing concern over the lack of news in the past two weeks.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – John Solecki, head of the UNHCR’s office in Quetta, Pakistan, has now been a hostage for nearly two months and the Geneva-based organization has joined other United Nations organizations to demand the release of Solecki and 18 other UN staff kidnapped and still held, around the world. Solecki is the second UNHCR staff member held in captivity in the past two years, says the organization. Hassan Mohammed Ali, head of UNHCR’s office in Mogadishu, Somalia, was held for two monthsin 2008.
Updated 19 March 08:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A Philippines senator said 19 March that rebels holding three ICRC (International Red Cross) employees in the Philippines have agreed to release one of them, according to the local Red Cross Thursday. The three hostages include one Swiss. Wednesday the rebels, who were in a gunfire battle with government forces early this week, threatened to behead one of the hostages if they were attacked again.
