BUCHAREST - Three Romanian journalists taken hostage on March 28 in Iraq are still alive, President Traian Basescu's spokeswoman said Monday.
"Marie-Jeanne Ion, journalist for Prima TV, her cameraman Sorin Miscoci and the correspondent of the newspaper Romania Libera, Eduard Ohanesian, are alive," said Adriana Saftoiu.
"In light of information we have gathered, we are optimistic about their state of health," she said.
Saftoiu urged the Romanian press to be patient.
"We will make public details of this hostage incident as soon as the three journalists have returned to Romania," she said.
The prosecutor's office said last week in Bucharest that a Romanian-Syrian businessman arrested in the Romanian capital was "linked to the alleged kidnappers."
Surveillance of businessman Omar Hayssam has shown "links between him and people suspected of being implicated in the kidnapping of three Romanians in Iraq," it 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.
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.
04/11/2005 14:19 GMT