Kidnapers Ask U.S. Hostage’s Family to Visit

The wife of American hostage Jesse Turner was invited by his Shiite Muslim kidnapers Friday to come to Lebanon to visit him, and she said she hopes to make the trip within a few days.

The Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine made the announcement in a brief statement sent to the Beirut independent newspaper An Nahar and a Western news agency.

The statement arrived with a picture of Turner, 44, and of Alann Steen, 52. Both were teachers at Beirut University College when they were kidnaped from the campus on Jan. 24, 1987, by men posing as police officers. Three other Americans are still held by Lebanese kidnapers. None has ever received a visit.

Turner, a native of Boise, taught mathematics and computer sciences at the Beirut university.

In Boise, Turner’s Lebanese wife, Badr, said, “I’m very excited! I didn’t believe what I’m hearing.

“I have to take the chance to go there,” said Badr Turner, who moved to Boise a year ago to be near her husband’s mother. “I’m not nervous, but I am surprised. I don’t know what to expect.”

She said she got the news first in telephone calls from news agencies Friday afternoon and got confirmation of it from the State Department an hour later.

She said she must wait for a visa for her 4-year-old daughter, Joanne, who was born five months after Turner was kidnaped, but she expects to leave in the next two or three days.

She said she had offers from a televison program, a local TV station and the State Department to arrange her travel.

The kidnapers’ statement said that “for humanitarian reasons, agreement has been given for the visit provided it is sponsored by the United Nations, which has pledged to help in this regard.”

The group also released an English-language letter that it said was written by Turner to his wife.

“I asked those holding me prisoner if I could see you and Joanne for one hour. They agreed . . . ,” Turner was quoted as saying in the letter. “But you and Joanne must come to Beirut as soon as possible to see me. After that everything will be OK. Dear Badr, I am waiting here for you.”

In the photograph released by the kidnapers, Turner and Steen appeared relaxed and in good health. There was no way of telling when the picture was taken.

Earlier in the day, Lebanon’s main hostage-holding faction, Islamic Jihad, issued a statement denying that it seeks U.S. safety guarantees for Shiite kidnapers after it frees all its captives.

Several news reports said the kidnapers sought such guarantees during talks in Lebanon this week with U.N. special envoy Giandomenico Picco.

Shiite extremists hold a total of nine Western hostages. They have indicated they would swap them for up to 300 Shiites held by Israel or by Israeli-allied Lebanese militiamen. But Israel first wants further details about five Israeli servicemen missing in Lebanon. All but one are believed to be dead.