2nd Hostage Gets 48-Hour Reprieve After Wife’s Plea : Terrorists Moved by Her Tears

The captors of American hostage Joseph Cicippio said today that they have postponed the “execution” of their captive for 48 hours, after an appeal for mercy by the hostage’s wife.

There was no word on the fate of British hostage Terry Waite, whose life also had been threatened by Lebanese extremists who demanded that Israel release a Hezbollah religious leader and two of his relatives.

At an emotional news conference in East Beirut, Cicippio’s Lebanese wife, Elham, pleaded with her husband’s captors to spare his life.

The hostage’s wife, speaking in Arabic, burst into tears as she asked the kidnapers in the name of “all religious teachings and humanitarian principals to reconsider their decision on my husband who has always distanced himself from politics and politicians.”

She then addressed her husband directly in English: “Joe, I know the difficulty of the situation in which we are in, but all I ask you is to keep your hopes high and don’t ever lose faith in God.”

‘Touching Appeal’ Cited

Cicippio, 58, the American University of Beirut’s deputy comptroller, was kidnaped Sept. 12, 1986.

The Revolutionary Justice Organization, a faction of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, or Party of God, had threatened to kill Cicippio if Israel did not release Hezbollah leader Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid by 6 p.m. (8 a.m. PDT).

But the group said in a statement delivered to the independent An Nahar newspaper at 8:15 p.m. (10:15 a.m. PDT): “Because of friendly and honest calls, some personal reasons and the touching appeal by Cicippio’s wife, the organization announces that it postponed the execution for 48 hours, which (postponement) will not be valid for renewal.”

As a proof of authenticity, the statement was accompanied by a color close-up photograph showing Edward Tracy, another American hostage whom the group holds, who appeared whitebearded and wearing a dark blue sweater.

The original threat against Cicippio was issued Monday several hours after another offshoot of Hezbollah, the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth, said it killed Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins and released a videotape showing a man who appeared to be Higgins hanging from a gallows.

White House Meeting

In Washington, President Bush met with his top military and national security advisers at the White House today to discuss possible responses to the hostage crisis, but there was no immediate word on any plans for retaliation.

Higgins was among 17 foreigners, including nine Americans, believed held in Lebanon, most by factions of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah organization.

A telephone caller saying he represented those holding Church of England envoy Waite threatened today to kill him at midnight (2 p.m. PDT) if Israel refused to release Obeid, a Hezbollah leader believed to be the mastermind of the Higgins kidnaping and other terrorist acts.

Today’s threat against Waite, which came in a telephone call to the Voice of the Nation radio station in Muslim West Beirut, was the second in less than 24 hours. The previous call was made to the Associated Press office in Cyprus.

Neither threat against Waite could be authenticated.