Mohamad Munaf, a businessman who had been kidnapped with three Romanian journalists in a major terrorism scandal last year, was “sentenced to death” by an Iraqi tribunal, according to the head of a Romanian newspaper.

Journalist Alecu Racoviceanu of the “Gardianul” daily told the Realitatea TV news channel on Friday that he had learned about the sentence against Munaf, but the information could not be confirmed from official sources. Munaf’s relatives also said they knew nothing of the verdict after they talked to him on the phone on Thursday.

Munaf is investigated for terror links and involvement in the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists last year. He was kidnapped along the three, but was later accused of being part of a larger scheme set up by Romanian businessman of Arab descent Omar Hayssam.

Hayssam, placed under terrorism charges in Romania, managed to flee the country earlier this year in a scandal that led to the resignation of Romania’s intelligence chiefs.