Post by Tim Wescott on Jun 18, 2004 15:06:43 GMT -5
MSNBC News Services:
Updated: 2:25 p.m. ET June 18, 2004RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A statement published on an Islamic Web site Friday claimed that American hostage Paul Johnson had been beheaded. The Web site also published photos apparently showing Johnson after death. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
“In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage Paul Marshall after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment,” the statement said. It was signed by the Organization of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
"Let him taste something from what Muslims tasted who were long reached by Apache helicopter fire and missiles," the statement said. Johnson had worked on Apache helicopter systems in Saudi Arabia for Lockheed Martin.
"We will continue on this path in fighting the enemies of Allah," the statement warned.
In Washington, spokespersons for the CIA and the State Department said the agencies were not able to immediately confirm the report of Johnson’s beheading.
A senior Saudi official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the government did not yet have any independent confirmation of Johnson’s death. "There is no body, and we know of no videotape," said the official.
Thousands of Saudi security forces had intensified their search of fundamentalist strongholds Friday as the deadline approached.
The kidnappers did not set a specific time when the deadline runs out. A videotape with the threat appeared on a Web site at about midnight Tuesday Saudi time, and if counted from that point the 72 hours would run out by midnight Friday, or 5 p.m. ET Friday.
In the video, the kidnappers vow to kill Johnson unless the Saudi government released all the militants in its prisons. The Saudis have rejected the demand.
Police vehicles drove through the Swede, Dhahran al-Boudoir and Bard districts overnight and into Friday.
Reuters:
People living in the three districts, which lie in western and southern Riyadh, suggest that the kidnappers enjoy popular support, partly because of U.S. policy in Iraq and its perceived backing for Israel.
"How can we inform on our brothers when we see all these pictures coming from Abu and Rajah," Mukluks NOF, a resident of Dhahran al-Boudoir, said at a restaurant called Jihad, or holy war in Arabic. He was referring to the pictures of Iraqis abused by U.S. soldiers at the Abu prison in Baghdad and the Israeli military's killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their homes in the Gaza refugee camp of Rajah.
"This is not a little skirmish. It is a war," NOF added.
But a top Saudi cleric, the preacher of Imam Sultana Mosque in Riyadh, implored the kidnappers to release Johnson in a column published in Al-Riyadh newspaper on Friday.
"O, youth of the nation who have trodden the wrong path, come back to the fold of the community of Islam. Avoid this sedition and be obedient to the ruler of the Muslims," Sheik Mohammed bin Sad al-Saeed wrote, referring to King Fahd.
And Johnson's Thai wife, Thanom, appealed for her husband's release on the Saudi-owned satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya. "When I see him in TV, I remember the medicine he needs," she said, her voice wavering. "I am afraid. I will do my best for him. Please bring him back to me."
Updated: 2:25 p.m. ET June 18, 2004RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A statement published on an Islamic Web site Friday claimed that American hostage Paul Johnson had been beheaded. The Web site also published photos apparently showing Johnson after death. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
“In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage Paul Marshall after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment,” the statement said. It was signed by the Organization of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
"Let him taste something from what Muslims tasted who were long reached by Apache helicopter fire and missiles," the statement said. Johnson had worked on Apache helicopter systems in Saudi Arabia for Lockheed Martin.
"We will continue on this path in fighting the enemies of Allah," the statement warned.
In Washington, spokespersons for the CIA and the State Department said the agencies were not able to immediately confirm the report of Johnson’s beheading.
A senior Saudi official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the government did not yet have any independent confirmation of Johnson’s death. "There is no body, and we know of no videotape," said the official.
Thousands of Saudi security forces had intensified their search of fundamentalist strongholds Friday as the deadline approached.
The kidnappers did not set a specific time when the deadline runs out. A videotape with the threat appeared on a Web site at about midnight Tuesday Saudi time, and if counted from that point the 72 hours would run out by midnight Friday, or 5 p.m. ET Friday.
In the video, the kidnappers vow to kill Johnson unless the Saudi government released all the militants in its prisons. The Saudis have rejected the demand.
Police vehicles drove through the Swede, Dhahran al-Boudoir and Bard districts overnight and into Friday.
Reuters:
People living in the three districts, which lie in western and southern Riyadh, suggest that the kidnappers enjoy popular support, partly because of U.S. policy in Iraq and its perceived backing for Israel.
"How can we inform on our brothers when we see all these pictures coming from Abu and Rajah," Mukluks NOF, a resident of Dhahran al-Boudoir, said at a restaurant called Jihad, or holy war in Arabic. He was referring to the pictures of Iraqis abused by U.S. soldiers at the Abu prison in Baghdad and the Israeli military's killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their homes in the Gaza refugee camp of Rajah.
"This is not a little skirmish. It is a war," NOF added.
But a top Saudi cleric, the preacher of Imam Sultana Mosque in Riyadh, implored the kidnappers to release Johnson in a column published in Al-Riyadh newspaper on Friday.
"O, youth of the nation who have trodden the wrong path, come back to the fold of the community of Islam. Avoid this sedition and be obedient to the ruler of the Muslims," Sheik Mohammed bin Sad al-Saeed wrote, referring to King Fahd.
And Johnson's Thai wife, Thanom, appealed for her husband's release on the Saudi-owned satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya. "When I see him in TV, I remember the medicine he needs," she said, her voice wavering. "I am afraid. I will do my best for him. Please bring him back to me."
