French Delegate Tells His Kidnapping Story … Hizbullah Justifies Detention
A French delegate to a Socialist International meeting in Beirut described his captivity in a windowless cell by armed men who “spoke on behalf of Hizbullah.” Hizbullah justified his detention, saying it was motivated by security concerns.
At a press conference hosted by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, French politician Karim Pakzad said he was kept isolated in a small cell for five hours.
“I banged against the walls so that maybe someone could hear me,” Pakzad said from the Bristol Hotel in Beirut.
He said that he was taken blindfolded to an unidentified location where his captors took away his cell phone, wallet and medicine.
Pakzad said the kidnapping happened as he was touring the capital in an open-top car with a Lebanese friend and taking pictures of a mosque along the airport road, near Hizbullah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“Armed men asked us ‘why do you have a camera?’ and ‘what are you doing here?’” before viewing the pictures he had taken with his digital camera, Pakzad said.
Jumblat condemned the kidnapping, saying the incident took place as a result of the “absence of state authority” throughout Lebanon.
“I look forward to seeing one of these days that state authority is (exercised) over the entire Lebanese territory,” Jumblat said, adding that he hoped the government “alone” would be in charge of security and of the war-and-peace decision
“Only the government has the right to stop people and interrogate them,” Jumblat stressed.
Hizbullah acknowledged the kidnapping, saying it was motivated by security concerns.
A statement issued by the group said Hizbullah militants had detained Pakzad and questioned him to ensure that he was not an Israeli.
“Once we were sure that the Frenchman and his companion were not Israelis we had no problems” with them, the statement said.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is Israel’s public enemy number one and the movement operates stringent security measures in its Beirut stronghold, requiring even news photographers to seek prior permission.
France denounced the kidnapping, saying the “arrest” of a French delegate was an “illegal act.”
“We count on the diligence of Lebanese authorities, responsible for the investigation and judicial follow-up of this incident,” a statement by the French foreign ministry said. It said Pakzad had filed a formal complaint.
