Breakthrough in German Hostage Crisis: Hannelore Krause Freed in Iraq, Son Still Being Held

AFP

Hannelore Krause, sitting next to her son Sinan, appealed to Germany to comply with the demands of their Iraqi captors in a video released in April.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed Wednesday morning in Berlin that Krause had been freed.

"After 155 days, Hannelore Krause's captivity is over. She has been free since yesterday afternoon," Steinmeier told reporters, saying that she was currently in the German embassy in Baghdad. He declined to go into details of the release and did not say if a ransom had been paid.

However, Steinmeier said that Hannelore Krause's son Sidan is still being held. Sidan is a German citizen and Steinmeier said the government in Berlin was doing everything possible to try to secure his release. The German government has been working to free the Krauses for months.

Hannelore Krause, 61, is married to an Iraqi doctor and has lived in Iraq for 40 years. She and her son Sidan, 20, were kidnapped from their house in Baghdad in February by a previously unknown group called the Arrows of Righteousness. The group demanded that the German army withdraw from Afghanistan or the hostages would be killed. Several ultimatums from the kidnappers passed without incident.

dgs/reuters