BEIRUT: A Lebanese Shia pilgrim kidnapped in Syria in May was set free yesterday, bringing the number of Lebanese hostages in the strife-torn country down to nine, state media said.
“Awad Ibrahim was set free,” Lebanon’s official news agency NNA reported.
“The freed hostage has arrived in Turkish territory,” it said, adding he was received by the Turkish authorities.
President Michel Sleiman congratulated Ibrahim, according to a statement.
Sleiman also expressed “hope his fellow hostages will be set free soon, and that (the kidnappings) will stop.”
Ibrahim was set free a month after another Lebanese hostage, Hussein Ali Omar, arrived in Turkey.
Egyptians to face trial for Bible burning
CAIRO: Egypt’s prosecutor general has referred to court the owner of an Islamist television station and his son over accusations they burned a copy of the Bible, state media reported yesterday.
Al Omma TV owner Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah, known as Abu Islam, and his son Islam, face charges of “insulting the Christian faith” along with journalist Hani Yassin Gadallah of the independent daily Al Tahrir, said the official Mena news agency.
Abu Islam and his son are specifically accused of tearing up and setting on fire a copy of the Bible during protests this month outside the US embassy in Cairo against a US-made film mocking the Prophet Mohammed.
Abu Islam is also accused of having made insulting remarks against Christianity in an interview with the Al Tahrir journalist, the state news agency said. A mob stormed the US embassy in Cairo and tore down the US flag on September 11 in a protest sparked by the low-budget film mocking Islam.
Agencies
