Belgian Family, Held Hostage, Freed After Terrorist’s Release

A Belgian family, held hostage in the Middle East since 1987, flew home Saturday after a jailed Palestinian guerrilla had been whisked out of the country.

Emmanuel Houtekins, 45; his wife, Godelieve Kets, 40, and their children, Laurent, 20, and Valerie, 19, were shown on Belgian television getting out of a helicopter near the main military hospital here.

But Foreign Minister Mark Eyskens said the freed hostages would not be allowed to see relatives or the media “for a time” so they could get used to their liberty.

The family had been seized by a Palestinian group known as the Fatah Revolutionary Council from a yacht in the Mediterranean.

The Palestinian, Said Nasser, was given a 30-year sentence for killing a Jewish child in a 1980 grenade attack outside an Antwerp synagogue. He was flown out of Belgium in a military plane.

Palestinian sources had said the swap would take place in Libya, which backs the FRC. Led by one of the world’s most wanted guerrillas, Abu Nidal, the FRC said this week that it would free four members of the Houtekins family in exchange for Nasser. It had never been established where the Houtekins were held.

Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens denied that any negotiations had taken place for the release of the Houtekins.

“I don’t like the word ‘swap,’ ” he said. “We did not negotiate . . . we made huge efforts to win their freedom.”

Eyskens said that Nasser had been eligible for parole under Belgian law after serving one third of his term.