Thousands demonstrate in Rome for Italian hostages
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-11 02:57

Thousands of Italians marched silently through Rome in a candlelit procession on Friday to demand the release of two female aid workers seized in Baghdad.

Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar promised Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that he would do everything possible to secure the release of the two women and said "barbaric" attacks on foreigners ran counter to Iraqi values.

Two girls hold candles during a march by tens of thousands of people in downtown Rome by the Colosseum and Roman Forum in memory of the victims of the school hostage crisis in Beslan, Russia and against all acts of terrorism, Monday Sept. 6, 2004. [AP]

Vigils were staged across Italy during the day, underscoring the widespread indignation provoked by the abduction of the two charity staffers who were in Baghdad to help school children.

Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both aged 29, were kidnapped at gunpoint on Tuesday along with two Iraqis in a brazen, daylight attack in the center of Baghdad.

A previously unknown militant group posted a statement on Friday claiming responsibility for the abduction and gave Italy 24 hours to bring about the release of all Muslim women held in Iraqi prisons if it wanted more news about the hostages.

Iraq's Yawar told Berlusconi on Friday he had doubts about the credibility of the message, the prime minister's office said in a statement after a two-hour meeting between the two men.

Later, the Italian government issued a separate statement saying Rome would work to insure that anyone unjustly jailed in Iraq would be freed.

Berlusconi, a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, called on Yawar to pull out all the stops to save the hostages, who are known in Italy as the "two Simonas."

"Yawar ... promised maximum commitment and willingness to ensure a positive outcome to this affair," said the statement released by Berlusconi's office.

Yawar is touring European capitals to drum up support for reconstruction aid and debt reduction.

REVULSION

At least seven Italians have been kidnapped in recent months in Iraq and two of them subsequently murdered, including journalist Enzo Baldoni who was killed last month.

The seizure of Pari and Torretta has stirred particular revulsion in Italy partly because they are women and partly because they were charity workers who had openly criticized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

A crowd of demonstrators snaked through the heart of Rome on Friday evening, holding flickering candles in their hands.

"From the word go, the majority of Italians were against the war and this kidnapping has reinforced that feeling," said Beatrice, a 47-year old office worker.

The Italian government sent some 2,700 troops to Iraq last year despite widespread opposition at home, and has said it will not bow to demands by terror groups to withdraw the force.

Italy's undersecretary for foreign affairs, Margherita Boniver, was on a tour of five Middle East countries, including Lebanon, to seek help in winning the Italian hostages' release.

Lebanon's top Shi'ite cleric condemned the kidnapping as a crime against Islam on Friday, saying the two Italians opposed the occupation of Iraq and were working for Iraqis.

"They had no links to the occupation. For that reason, from our legal Islamic perspective, we ask the kidnappers to release them immediately," Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said in a statement.

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