STOCKHOLM - An Iraq-Swede held hostage in Iraq since late January has been released, Swedish chief prosecutor Katarina Johansson-Welin said Friday, quoting Swedish police sources.
"I have received verbal confirmation from police investigating the case that he has been released," Johansson-Welin, who is in charge of the investigation, told AFP.
Minas Ibrahim al-Yussufi, the secretary general of Iraq`s Christian Democratic Party, was kidnapped on January 28 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by an armed group calling itself the "Brigades of Iraqi Vengeance" while on his way by taxi from Baghdad to the party`s headquarters in the northern city of Mosul.
His relatives in Sweden had been trying to raise the 400,000 dollar ransom still being demanded by his kidnappers, who had threatened to behead him. Initially they had asked for four million dollars (more than three million euros).
Johansson-Welin refused to reveal any details around the release and did not say whether a ransom had been paid.
Last month Yussufi was seen on a video pleading for his life, saying he was certain he would face execution by his kidnappers.
Yussufi, who has dual Iraqi and Swedish nationality, had lived in Sweden for about 20 years. He returned to Iraq in April 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein to get involved in national politics.
03/18/2005 15:53 GMT