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1991: Church envoy Waite freed in Beirut
England have
Church envoy Terry Waite has been freed by the Islamic extremists who
kidnapped him in Beirut in 1987.
Mr Waite, the envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, successfully
negotiated the release of several Westerners held in Beirut before he was also
taken captive.
He was released with an American academic, Thomas Sutherland who was seized
in 1985.
Their captors, Islamic Jihad, broke the news in a brief note to an
international news agency in the Lebanese capital.
Terry Waite was the last British captive in Lebanon following the release
of journalist John McCarthy in August and 77-year-old Jackie Mann in
September.
At a press conference in Damascus, Syria, he told reporters the kidnappers
had promised other Western hostages would be released soon.
Mr Waite said his captors had told him they would free the remaining three
American hostages - Joseph Cicippio, Alan Steen and Terry Anderson - by the end
of the month.
His captors had apologised for kidnapping him and admitted hostage taking
served no useful purpose, Mr Waite added.
Thomas Sutherland told the conference they had seen Terry Anderson - the
longest-held hostage - just before their release.
Mr Sutherland said: ''We left Terry Anderson about three or four hours ago
in Lebanon and he is no longer chained to the wall, thank God, but he is still
in a room that has very little fresh air and no daylight whatsoever."
The release of Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland means there are now five
Western hostages left in Beirut - three Americans and two Germans.
After the release of Mr Waite and Mr Sutherland were confirmed bells rang
out at St Bride's Church, in Fleet Street, London, where vigils have been held
on behalf of Mr Waite and other hostages.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, said he was "delighted" at
the news.
''The prayers of so many people have been answered today and we thank God
for news of his release,'' Dr Carey said.
The shooting happened at a jungle airstrip
1978: Mass suicide leaves 900 dead
Artificially 1969:
The The bodies of 914 people, including 276 children, have been found in
Guyana in South America.
Most of the dead - members of the People's Temple Christian Church - had
consumed a soft drink laced with cyanide and sedatives .
However, the body of the People's Temple charismatic leader, Jim Jones, was
said to have a bullet wound in the right temple, believed to be
self-inflicted.
The deaths are being linked to the earlier killings of five people,
including US Congressman Leo Ryan, on a nearby airstrip.
Mr Ryan had led a fact-finding mission to the church's jungle settlement -
Jonestown - after allegations by relatives in the US of human rights abuses.
Last year Jim Jones and most of the 1,000 members of the People's Temple
moved to Guyana from San Francisco after an investigation began into the church
for tax evasion.
People who had left the organisation told the authorities of brutal
beatings, murders and a mass suicide plan but were not believed.
In spite of the tax evasion allegations, Jim Jones was still widely
respected for setting up a racially-mixed church which helped the
disadvantaged.
Leo Ryan's delegation arrived in Jonestown on 14 November and spent three
days interviewing residents.
They left hurriedly earlier on Saturday after an attempt on Mr Ryan's life,
taking with them about 20 People's Temple members who wished to leave.
Delegation members told police as they were boarding planes at the airstrip
a truckload of Jim Jones' guards arrived and began to shoot.
When the gunmen left five people were dead: Congressman Ryan, a reporter
and cameraman from NBC, a newspaper photographer and one "defector" from the
People's Temple.
A producer for NBC News, Bob Flick, survived the attack.
Mr Flick said: "Every time someone fell down wounded they would walk over
and shoot them in the head with a shotgun."
Vocabulary:
vigil : a period of sleeplessness(守夜)
sedative: a drug that reduces excitability and calms a person(镇静剂;止痛药) |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:22:20