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Thu, 31 Jul, 2014 12:07:45 AM FTimes Report, July 31  Finnish couple and their Austrian friend abducted in Yemen by Al-Qaeda militants stand at the airport of the Omani capital Muscat on Thursday after they were handed over to Omani authorities. The three Europeans, seized in Sanaa on December 21,2012 were freed by local tribesmen on the border with Oman overnight, an Yemeni official said. Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. The Qatar and Oman authorities paid US dollar 20.4 million in ransom for the release of abducted Finnish couple Leila and Atte Kaleva, their Austrian friend Dominik Neubauer and another Swizz national, according to a report published by The New York Times.
The newspaper published a detail investigative report on Tuesday, which also said that at least $125 million in ransom money has been paid to Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates since 2008 for kidnappings that have been reported.
“While European governments deny paying ransoms, an investigation by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have taken in at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008, of which $66 million was paid just last year,” said the NYT report.
The report, however, said that the foreign ministries of Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland denied in emails and telephone interviews that they had paid the terrorists.
“The French authorities have repeatedly stated that France does not pay ransoms,” said the report quoting Vincent Floreani, deputy director of communication for France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The report said that several senior diplomats involved in past negotiations have described the decision to pay ransom for their countries’ citizens as an agonizing calculation: Accede to the terrorists’ demand, or allow innocent people to be killed, often in a gruesome, public way?
Finnish couple Leila and Atte Kaleva and their Austrian friend Dominik Neubauer were released on May 9, 2013, in the Yemen-Oman border area four-and-a-half months into their abduction by al-Qaeda fighters from Sana'a, the capital city of Yemen, on December 21, 2012.
Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. The three abducted Europeans were handed over to the Oman authorities by a tribe at Hawf village, said Yemeni media reports and Finnish government sources.
The hostages were set free after the authorities of the neighbouring Oman had held negotiations with the abductors and paid them ransom for the release, a senior Yemini security official told Reuters at that time, reported STT.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, however, rejected outright the report of paying ransom to the abductors from the very beginning of the release.
‘Finland did not pay any ransom to the abductors as financing terrorists is clearly forbidden under the international rules,’ Tuomioja told a press conference on the following day of the release of the abducted.
At the time of release, the three were being held by alleged al-Qaeda affiliates, but it is not clear whether the hostages were originally abducted by al-Qaeda or the Europeans were sold to them by a local tribe.
Qatar had initially negotiated with the abductors to get the hostages released, just as it played a role in the release of a Swiss woman who had been held by al-Qaeda affiliates for over a year.
However, it appears that the kidnappers were dissatisfied with the amount of ransom offered to them and that round of negotiations fell through, said the Yemen Times report at that time.
It is believed the foreigners and their abductors have been on the move for the last five months, hosted for days at a time by area tribes, the report said. According to official sources, initially they were taken to the outskirts of the capital, before moving to the Hareeb area in Marib governorate.
Yemenis walk past the shop outside of Which three foreigners were kidnapped in Sanaa in December, 2012. Photo - AFP / Lehtikuva. They were later taken to Al-Shihr in Hadramout governorate and finally to Hawf in Al-Mahra governorate near the Omani border.
The Hawf tribe, which is split between Yemen and Oman, is believed to have turned against the al-Qaeda militants being pressured by the Omani government. The alleged kidnappers have been arrested by the tribe and handed over to the Yemeni authorities.
Earlier on April 27, 2013 a Yemeni journalist claimed he had seen masked gunmen abducting the Finnish couple along with an Austrian student from a camera shop in Sana'a.
The Yemen Post Editor Hakim Almasmari told Yle that a reporter of the newspaper had seen the Finnish couple that week. Almasmari also said negotiations for release of the abducted would be held with tribal leaders acting as mediators.
The abductors on February 22, 2013 released on Youtube a video containing a demand for ransom to release the Austrian national.
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