Militia Says It Will Free Frenchman

The Lebanese extremist Revolutionary Justice Organization announced Monday the imminent release of a French diplomat held hostage since March, 1985, French television reported.

The announcement came hours after the External Relations Ministry in Paris said that France and Iran have signed an agreement for France to pay back $330 million loaned by Tehran before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The ministry said it is trying to confirm the report of the hostage’s release by the Muslim militia group in Beirut. “We have no information at the moment,” a spokesman said. “We’re trying to check it. As you know, communications with Beirut are very difficult.”

French television, citing reports from Lebanon, said that the Revolutionary Justice Organization would free diplomat Marcel Carton in the next several hours at the Hotel Beau Rivage in Beirut.

Carton, 62, the embassy’s protocol chief, is one of five French hostages believed still held in Lebanon. He was kidnaped March 22, 1985, along with fellow diplomat Marcel Fontaine, a vice consul. Two other French captives, Camille Sontag, 85, and Marcel Coudari, 55, were freed unharmed a week ago.

Earlier, a spokesman said French External Relations Minister Jean-Bernard Raimond and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati signed the agreement separately in Paris and Tehran “over the past few days.”

France has denied that the repayment of the loan amounts to ransom for its hostages and has criticized the United States for secretly shipping military equipment to Iran, reportedly in exchange for U.S. hostages in Lebanon being held by pro-Iranian terrorist groups.

The $330 million being paid by France to Iran is the first installment on a $1-billion loan the Shah of Iran made to France in 1974 for participation in a European uranium-enrichment plant.