BUCHAREST - A Romanian-Syrian businessman arrested in Bucharest is "linked to the alleged kidnappers" of three Romanian journalists in Iraq, the prosecutors office said Wednesday.
Surveillance of businessman Omar Hayssam has shown "links between him and people suspected of being implicated in the kidnapping of three Romanians in Iraq," the prosecutors office said in a statement.
Hayssam, who was arrested late Tuesday, is being charged under an anti-terrorist law, the statement said, adding that he is also suspected of fraud and tax evasion.
On March 29, the day after the kidnapping, Hayssam had told Romanian television stations that he had been "contacted by the kidnappers", who had demanded an undisclosed ransom, which he had refused.
Hayssam is close to Iraqi-American businessman Mohamed Munaf, who was taken hostage along with the three Romanians.
Munaf allegedly financed the trip of the Romanian journalists and was their guide in Baghdad.
Romanian authorities had late Tuesday rejected as "rumours" television reports that the three journalists had been freed.
Journalist Marie-Jeanne Ion and her cameraman Eduard Ohanesian from Prima TV and Sorin Miscoci of the Romanian daily Libera, were taken hostage March 28 along with Munaf on the outskirts of Baghdad.
A video of the visibly frightened hostages was broadcast March 30 by the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.
Iraq has been plagued by hostage-takings of foreigners and locals since the US-led war two years ago to remove president Saddam Hussein. Some hostages have been released, many of them for ransom, while others have been executed.
04/06/2005 17:04 GMT