Wüstenschiff

Four arrested in abduction of Estonians in Lebanon
30.03.2011 - zawya

BEIRUT, (AFP) - Four people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of seven Estonian cyclists abducted at gunpoint a week ago in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, a security official said Wednesday ... mehr


Nun sind insgesamt schon 4 der mutmaßlichen Kidnapper verhaftet ...

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Estonian kidnapping remains unanswered question
30.03.2011 - Baltic Times

[...] Moscow’s independent Middle East expert Said Gafurov tries to calm the situation. He believes that the only thing that threaten those seven Estonians in Lebanon is just discomfort. He said in an interview with Estonian Public Broadcasting that in present-day Lebanon, it isn’t possible to kill hostages. “Lebanon is recovering after a war, the state is led by bankers and the toursim industry and they want peace. Any person who writes down that he did this will, at the same time, sign his own death sentence, too, ” he explained ... mehr
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Investigators expect arrest of kidnappers soon
Security forces optimistic that seven Estonians being kept alive and in Lebanon
31.03.2011 - Daily Star Lebanon

[...] “Security personnel will require a number of additional hours to put an end to this tragic incident, which has been going on for a week and which will have a happy ending for both the hostages and for Lebanon,” the source told The Daily Star. “Things are coming to a close.” ... mehr


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Obscure group claims kidnap of Estonians in Lebanon
31.03.2011 - AFP

BEIRUT — An obscure group has claimed the kidnapping of seven Estonians in Lebanon through an email sent to a local website along with copies of the ID cards of three of those abducted, the head of the website told AFP Thursday [...] The previously unheard of group, Haraket El Nahda Wal Islah (the Movement for Renewal and Reform) said the Estonians were in good condition and that it would make known its demands at a later time ... mehr

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Security Forces Fear that Estonians Are No Longer in Lebanon
01.04.2011 - naharnet

High-ranking security sources have expressed fear that Wael Abbas, the ringleader of the cell that kidnapped the seven Estonians, might have handed over the hostages to another network. The sources told An Nahar daily on Friday that Abbas could have also transferred the cyclists [...] "to outside the Lebanese territories," in reference to Syria ... mehr

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Gang leader suspected in kidnapping trying to leave Lebanon: ISF
02.04.2011 - Daily Star

The criminal kingpin suspected of masterminding the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists is trying to flee Lebanon, the head of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said Friday [...] “Wael Abbas is trying to escape now. He may not have left Lebanon, but if not, he is making plans to [leave],” [...] Rifi identified Abbas as the ringleader of the group responsible for the kidnapping, with the suspect’s brother and father currently being held in ISF detention. The security source told The Daily Star that Abbas’ relatives were not involved in the crime, but were being held in an effort to pressure Abbas [...] He also ruled out the involvement of Darwish Khanjar, who was previously named in connection with the crime ... mehr

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Estonia seeking Syria’s help over its Kidnapped citizens
04.04.2011 - ya libnan

Lebanon Files website reported on Sunday that the Estonian Foreign ministry has revealed to LBC TV that it has contacted the Syrian foreign ministry for seeking help [...] The three IDs shown on the website were those of Kalev Kaosaar, August Tillo and Madis Paluoja. The other kidnapped were identified by authorities as Priit Raistik, Jaan Jagomagi, Andre Pukk and Martin Metspalu. All are in their 30s and early 40s [...] the kidnappers have already transferred the kidnapped Estonians to another criminal gang and the purpose of the kidnapping is to seek ransom ... mehr

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Fresh riots break out at Roumieh prison complex
05.04.2011 - Daily Star

[...] The Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces in the Bekaa town of Bar Elias arrested Monday a man suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of the seven Estonian cyclists, the National News Agency reported. The detainee, identified by his initials as “A. M.,” was transferred to Zahle’s Justice Palace, the NNA added. LBC TV later identified the man as Sheikh Arfan Maarabouni ... mehr
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Security breaches likely to occur soon: source
05.04.2011 - Daily Star

[...] The source said the reason behind the kidnapping of the Estonian cyclists was purely financial and thus has no connection to the Arab world revolutions [...] The source added that fundamentalist and extremist individuals were reported to have made their way to Lebanon and spread out in numerous areas in north Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and south Lebanon, namely to Ain al-Hilweh, where it was registered that individuals from different nationalities were entering the camp and cooperating with Al-Qaeda-inspired Jund al-Sham ... mehr


Die USA haben heute eine Reisewarnung für ihre Bürger für den Libanon ausgesprochen (Quelle: UPI).

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Baroud: Security situation in the country not at its best
06.04.2011 - Daily Star

Caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud said Tuesday that the security situation in the country was “not at its best,” [...] Separately, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said [...] that Syria was most likely responsible for the abduction of the seven tourists, adding that Zahle’s explosion was intended as a diversion. “Until further notice, I can say that the main side behind it [the abduction] is the brothers in Syria,” he said. In other news, Sheikh Arfan Maarbouni, who was arrested by an ISF Information Branch patrol in the Bekaa town of Bar Elias, was released Tuesday after investigations revealed that he was not linked to the operation ... mehr

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Ransom demand made in Lebanon for return of missing Estonians
06.04.2011 - m&c

A ransom demand has been made for the return of seven Estonians held hostage in Lebanon for two weeks, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. A group calling itself the Renaissance and Reform Movement had contacted a Lebanese website on Wednesday morning with the demand, the ministry said ... mehr

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PM Rules Out Bargaining with Terrorists
07.04.2011 - ERR

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip backed the Foreign Minister's stance that paying ransom for the Estonian abductees in Lebanon is out of the question because the incentive would endanger other Europeans traveling in risky areas. "It is not customary for countries to even speculate over paying ransom. States do not negotiate with terrorists," Ansip told ETV ... mehr

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Officer, Estonians kidnap suspect killed in Lebanon shootout
11.04.2011 - iloubnan

A police intelligence officer was killed in an ambush by a suspect in the kidnapping [...] officials said on Monday. They said the suspect, Darwish Khanjar, was also killed during the shootout late on Sunday in the town of Majdal Anjar, in the eastern Bekaa Valley [...] A security official had previously told AFP that Khanjar, the suspected leader of a gang involved in criminal and smuggling activities, was implicated in the kidnapping of the seven Estonian cyclists on March 23. Both Sabri and Khanjar, who was also wanted for the 2010 murder of two soldiers in the Bekaa Valley, were from Majdal Anjar, a town near the Syrian border known to harbour Sunni extremist groups and fugitives ... mehr

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Syrian Instability Hinders Hunt for Kidnappers
19.04.2011 - ERR

On April 19, on his second official visit to Beirut since the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said the heated political atmosphere in Syria means that authorities there aren't spending nearly as much resources finding the hostages as in Lebanon. "The reality is that the domestic political climate over there is very unstable. There are protests and the danger that tensions will escalate even more," ... mehr
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Abducted cyclists' case priority for Lebanon, Estonian FM says
Iloubnan - 19.04.2011

[...] "There are still many versions, but the the most concrete, or fact-based, is that some people have been arrested" in connection with the kidnapping, Paet said."Other than that, there are no facts," he said ... mehr


Keine neue Spur - die einzigen Fakten sind die bisher Inhaftierten.

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Estonians kidnapped in Lebanon beg for help: YouTube video
20.04.2011 - iloubnan

An unauthenticated video uploaded to YouTube late Tuesday shows seven Estonians kidnapped last month in eastern Lebanon begging Lebanese, Saudi, Jordanian and French leaders to help them return home. Local website Lebanon Files received a tip Wednesday of the undated video, uploaded on April 19 by a user named thekidnaper2011. The video runs just over one minute and shows each of seven men in sportswear, who appeared unharmed, begging for help in English ... mehr



Das bei youtube aufgetauchte Video wurde dort zwischenzeitlich entfernt, weil sein Inhalt gegen die Nutzungsbedingungen verstößt.

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Die Pressemeldung nun auch auf deutsch ...


Erstes Lebenszeichen der im Libanon entführten Touristen
20.04.2011 - euronews

Sieben im Libanon entführte Fahrrad-Touristen aus Estland haben in einem im Internet verbreiteten Video um Hilfe gefleht [...] Die Videobotschaft, die sich an den libanesischen Ministerpräsidenten Saad Hariri und mehrere Weltpolitiker wie etwa Frankreichs Staatschef Nicolas Sarkozy richtet, ist das erste Lebenszeichen der vor vier Wochen entführten Touristen. Das estnische Außenministerium geht davon aus, dass das Video echt ist ... mehr mit Video

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Gemäß Pressemeldungen gab es im September vergangenen Jahres schon einmal Probleme für Touristen in der Beeka-Region:

AFP vom 19.04.2011 hat geschrieben:Abductions have been rare in Lebanon since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war during which nearly 100 foreigners, mostly Americans and western Europeans, were kidnapped. Two Polish tourists were rescued by the army after being seized by a clan in September in the Bekaa, a region notorious for lawlessness, drug trafficking and feuding clans

Welt vom 23.03.2011 hat geschrieben:Im September 2010 waren zwei polnische Touristen im Bekaa-Tal vorübergehend von einem einflussreichen Clan entführt worden. Der polnische Konsul sprach anschließend von einem "Versehen".

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Birgitt