It is very clear now why French journalist Florence Aubenas, captive in Iraq for 157 days, didnât want to say she spent some time in captivity with the three Romanian journalists also held hostage there, Marie-Jeanne Ion, Ovidiu Ohanesian and Sorin Miscoci. French Magazine Le Nouvel Observateur gives us the reason in a complete article with details about whom, how and why the kidnappings in Iraq happened: the kidnappersâ threats.
At the end of March, it was all arranged. The French journalist from Liberation was to be finally freed. But the Romanian hostages came into the picture. The invisible leader of the kidnappers changed his plans. It all had to be taken from the beginning. This is the debut of a terrifying Poker deal, which started in Iraq and echoed through Paris and Bucharest. Here, in the two capitals, Sege Raffy from Nouvel Observateur retraced the entire story of the kidnapping of the French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi guide, Hussein Hanoun, as well as her Romanian colleagues.
INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION IN BUCHAREST Serge Raffy decided to come to Bucharest, to solve the mystery of the journalistsâ kidnapping. Here, he met the "heroine of the most known kidnapping in the history of Romania": Marie-Jeanne Ion. While a passenger in the journalistsâ BMW, the French pressman discovered an amazing fact in his opinion: the driver of another car was arguing with her and he didnât even recognize her! Therefore, he ignores completely the fact she knew some of the details of this kidnapping. The wonder is explainable: at the end of May, she was the heroine of the country, showing a victorious attitude at the landing on the Bucharest airport after two months spent in an obscure and wet cellar in the South of Baghdad, together with Florence Aubenas.
FLASHBACKS FROM CAPTIVITY When they came into the country, Marie-Jeanne, Sorin a