The Romanian Police recently took into custody Omar Hayssam, who had been in a Syrian prison after being convicted to 20 years in jail for terrorism in Romania. Hayssam, found by a Romanian court to have been responsible for the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad back in 2005, was recently extradited to Romania.

The news came from the Presidential Administration on Friday morning (July 19 ). The Romanian president Traian Basescu thanked via his spokesperson the institutions and officers involved in this large operation, for having pursued Hayssam's extradition in the last five years.

Hayssam is a Syrian and Romanian citizen who managed to leave Romania for Syria soon after being freed from preventive arrest on medical grounds back in 2007, when he was finally convicted to 20 years in jail. His escape on a ship which was transporting sheep led to resignations of the chief of intelligence and of the chief prosecutor at the time, for having failed to monitor him after being released on medical grounds. Several doctors afterwards confirmed Hayssam's cancer diagnostic.

Two journalists from Prima TV, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci and Marie-Jeanne Ion and one from the daily Romania Libera, Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian were kidnapped in Baghdad in 2005. Omar Hayssam was found to have staged the kidnapping of the three journalists. Soon after the three were kidnapped, he claimed to have been contacted by the kidnappers, who had asked him for an USD 4 million ransom. The person who organized the kidnapping was Hayssam's friend Mohammad Munaf, who was the guide of the three journalists in Baghdad.

The Romanians' release was confirmed 55 days after being kidnapped, after international media had rumored the Romanian journalists had been released much earlier with the help of an American commando group. Later on however the journalists confirmed the 55-day kidnapping.

In 2008, Mohammad Munaf was sentenced to 10 years in jail, a smaller sentence than Hayssam's, for having collaborated with the prosecutors. He managed to escape the death penalty in his home country Iraq, where he was also trialed after being arrested in the kidnapping case. According to Romanian media, the chances of Munaf also been extradited to Romania are slim.

editor@romania-insider.com