Terrorists Assert They Plan to Free American Priest
A Beirut newspaper said today the shadowy terrorist organization Islamic Jihad (Holy War) had served notice it would soon release one of its five kidnaped American hostages, Father Lawrence M. Jenco, “because of his deteriorating health.”
The independent daily An Nahar said the group linked to Iran declared its intention to free Jenco, 51, of Joliet, Ill., in a typewritten statement delivered to the newspaper office in Muslim West Beirut shortly after midnight.
An Nahar published a Polaroid photograph of the Roman Catholic priest on its front page and said it received the picture in the same envelope that contained Jihad’s statement.
In the photograph, Jenco had more gray hair than in any of the previous photos released by Islamic Jihad since he was abducted in West Beirut on Jan. 8, 1985.
“We declare that we shall soon release Father Jenco, one of the hostages with us, because of his deteriorating health and in conformity with our humanitarian Islamic principles,” the statement said.
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