Three Hostages Held by Abu Nidal Freed at French Embassy in Beirut : French Woman, Belgian, Girl Born in Captivity Released

The Palestinian terrorist group led by Abu Nidal today freed a French woman, a Belgian man and the daughter born to them in captivity. The couple had been seized from a French yacht nearly 2 1/2 years ago.

Jacqueline Valente, 32; Fernand Houtekins, 43, and 2-year-old Sophie-Liberte were released by masked gunmen who sped up to the main gate of the French Embassy in three cars with drawn curtains, police said.

“I embrace all my family. I am well, and the little one also,” Valente told French reporters.

She also acknowledged that she had given birth to another baby in captivity but said the baby boy, whom she named Palestine, lived only a year.

Diplomats in Beirut were quoted as saying the boy died of intestinal complications despite treatment from doctors.

The release came about a month after France sent to Libya three Mirage F-1 warplanes that Libya purchased in 1986. The sale had been blocked by the French government as part of an arms embargo imposed when France aided Chad in fighting against Libya. There was no public explanation by France for its decision to release the planes.

Because the hostages released today were believed to have been held in Libya, the case is considered unrelated to the 18 Westerners held hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim factions.

The two, accompanied by their daughter, refused to discuss certain other subjects, including the death of their second child in captivity or their living conditions while they were hostages.

A chartered twin-engine executive jet arrived from France to pick up the couple and their child. Cypriot officials said it would fly the three from Beirut to Villacoublay, near Paris.

Hours after the release, Walid Khaled, spokesman for the terrorist group, the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, drove to the French Embassy and said he would release a statement “after my talks with French diplomats.”

Fatah announced Nov. 8, 1987, that it had seized hostages from the French yacht Silco in the Mediterranean off the Gaza Strip. It accused them of collaborating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Friends said the group was on a holiday cruise.

The Abu Nidal group had acknowledged holding Valente, 32, Sophie-Liberte and five Belgians: Houtekins, his brother Emmanuel, and Emmanuel’s wife and teen-age daughter and son.

Houtekins said the four members of his family still held by the terrorist group are well.

On Wednesday, Libyan leader Col. Moammar Kadafi urged the release of Valente as a compassionate measure on the occasion of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.