Jumblatt Efforts to Free Waite Reported
Lebanese Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt has met with Iranian and pro-Iranian officials in a bid to secure the freedom of kidnaped Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite, the magazine Al Shiraa reported.
“The direct and first purpose is the issue of the kidnaping of Anglican envoy Terry Waite,” the weekly magazine said.
The magazine, believed to have sources close to Iran, broke the news last November of the secret U.S. arms deal with Tehran.
It said Jumblatt was expected to visit Iran and might meet Iran’s revolutionary leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party militia was in charge of Waite’s security when he disappeared in Beirut on January 20 while on a mission to try to free Western hostages.
Al Shiraa said Jumblatt decided to resume his efforts to find Waite, a special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, because the envoy’s disappearance was an embarrassment to him.
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