U.S. Hostage Ill, Kidnapers Say; Swap Proposed

A Muslim fundamentalist group said Monday that Alann Steen, an American it is holding hostage in Lebanon, has fallen ill and could die within 10 days, and the group urged the United States to put pressure on Israel to accept a prisoner swap agreement.

Another group of Lebanese kidnapers, meanwhile, announced that it has called off a decision to “execute” Jean-Louis Normandin, a French television technician whom it holds prisoner, after receiving appeals for his life from Middle East religious leaders.

In a related development, Tehran radio said that Terry Waite, the Anglican Church envoy who disappeared Jan. 20 in West Beirut, was “captured” by a Lebanese group known as the Revolutionary Justice Organization. The broadcast gave no source for its report.

U.S. Role Alleged

The Revolutionary Justice Organization charged last month that the 47-year-old Waite had been used as a stalking horse by U.S. intelligence services trying to locate the hideouts of suspected Lebanese extremist groups.

Although a number of different groups hold hostages in Lebanon, virtually all are believed to be Shia Muslim extremist organizations with close ties to the revolutionary regime of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran.

The latest threat to an American hostage came in a handwritten statement delivered to the respected Arabic newspaper An Nahar in Beirut. The statement said that Steen, a native of Boston, has become ill.

“His physical condition may deteriorate,” it said, “and he may die within 10 days.”

Steen, 48, was one of four Beirut University College professors--three Americans and an Indian national--who were taken hostage at the school Jan. 24. Besides Steen, the victims were Robert Polhill, 53, of New York City; Jesse Turner, 39, of Boise, Ida., and Mithileshwar Singh, 60, an Indian citizen who is a legal resident of the United States.

The statement said that Steen, whom it called a spy, would be freed from captivity in exchange for 100 prisoners in Israeli jails.

“Therefore, the U.S. Administration is required to act within this 10-day period to pressure the Zionist enemy to arrange the swap,” the note said.

The statement was signed by Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine. Islamic Jihad means “holy war,” and another group using that name is believed to be holding two other Americans, Terry A. Anderson, 39, Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, and Thomas Sutherland, 55, dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut.

Rejected Berri Proposal

Nabih Berri, leader of Lebanon’s Shia Muslim Amal militia, had previously suggested that his group would free a captured Israeli airman as part of an exchange agreement for the release of 400 prisoners held in Israel and the four kidnaped Beirut University College professors. But that proposed deal was rejected by Israel and the United States.

Steen’s kidnapers enclosed a photograph of Polhill with their Monday statement to prove its authenticity, and they said a videotape of Steen would be released to show his decline in health.

A videotape made public Monday showed Normandin, the kidnaped French technician, who has been repeatedly threatened with death.

The Revolutionary Justice Organization, which has claimed to hold him, said it was canceling an order for Normandin’s execution after pleas for his life were made by two Arab religious leaders, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah and Bishop Hilarion Capucci.

Close Ties to Iran

Fadlallah is a Shia cleric with close ties to Iran and to fundamentalist groups in Lebanon, and Capucci is a Greek Orthodox prelate.

The threat to kill Normandin followed remarks critical of terrorism by French President Francois Mitterrand. The kidnapers were also demanding that France stop supplying arms to Iraq, which has been fighting a war with Iran for the past 6 1/2 years.

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Anglican Church envoy Waite deepened with Tehran radio’s announcement that he is being held by the Revolutionary Justice Organization.

The broadcast, monitored by the Associated Press here, said cryptically: “It is necessary to note that Terry Waite, accused of espionage, was captured by an armed Lebanese group known as Revolutionary Justice.”

It was unclear if the broadcast was intended to be a statement of Waite’s whereabouts or was merely a repetition of reports from abroad.

Carter Reaction

In Damascus, Syria, where he is making a private visit, former President Jimmy Carter termed “ridiculous” the Iranian report that Waite was a U.S. spy. “There’s no truth to that at all,” Carter told reporters.

The Iranians have angrily denied reports in Soviet news media that Waite was being held in the Iranian Embassy in West Beirut.

Waite had made a number of trips to Lebanon on behalf of Robert A. K. Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to try to persuade Muslim kidnapers to free their hostages.

After Waite’s disappearance, Walid Jumblatt, who heads the Druze militia organization in Lebanon, said he believed that Waite was being held by a faction of Hezbollah (Party of God), a Shia Muslim group close to Iran.

There has been speculation that Islamic Jihad and Revolutionary Justice Organization are names used by various factions of Hezbollah.