Freed Hostage Says She Was Treated Well

A German woman freed after being held hostage in Iraq for more than three weeks said in an interview broadcast Monday that the kidnappers treated her well.

Susanne Osthoff, an aid worker and archeologist, told the Arabic-language satellite television channel Al Jazeera that her abductors weren’t trying to get a ransom. Instead they were demanding that schools, hospitals and other humanitarian projects be built in Sunni Muslim Arab areas, she said.

“Thank God, I am still alive,” Osthoff, 43, said in Arabic, a black scarf wrapped around her head.

Osthoff disappeared with her Iraqi driver Nov. 25 in northern Iraq. Her release was announced Dec. 18. The driver is also believed to have been freed.

The German government expressed concern Monday that Osthoff had not ruled out going back to Iraq and appealed to her not to return.

“After the intensive efforts of many who were involved, which in the end led to her release, I would find it hard to understand if Mrs. Osthoff again put herself in a dangerous situation,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement.

Osthoff said in the interview that she was always aware of the danger in Iraq. But she said Iraqis lived in misery and needed help. The aid money that entered the country did not reach ordinary people, she argued.

For most of the interview, Osthoff spoke in English, with an Arabic interpreter’s voice-over.

Osthoff said the kidnappers called her by name and told her they knew she was a friend of Iraq. She described her captivity as comfortable, although there was no power. She said she drank tea and smoked a lot.

Osthoff said her captors told her they were trying to contact German authorities. She said she finally was driven to Baghdad and freed, but the details of how her release was secured were not made clear.

Relatives in Germany have said that Osthoff, who was once married to a Jordanian, has been out of touch with them for years.