The Bucharest Appeals Court sentenced Mohammad Munaf, involved in the Iraq kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in 2005, to ten years of prison on Thursday, Romanian television Realitatea TV informs. Munaf has to pay some 2,000,000 euro in damages for each involved journalist: Ovidiu Ohanesian, Sorin Miscoci and Marie Jeanne Ion. Currently, Munaf is in Iraq.
The court rejected a request to expell Munaf after his prison time ends. Omar Hayssam and Mohammad Munaf were indicted for terrorist acts in october 2005 even though they were not in the country. According to prosecutors, the two arranged the kidnapping of the three Romanian journalists with a terrorist group in Iraq.
The same court sentenced Omar Hayssam, a well-connected businessman of Syrian descent, to 20 years of prison and 10 years of some rights deprivation for his role in the kidnapping. Hayssam has fled Romania.
