France Denies Paying Ransom to Free Journalist

The French government today insisted it paid no ransom for the release of a journalist held in captivity for five months in Iraq.

Michel Barnier, a former foreign minister who worked on the case until leaving the government this month, said no money had changed hands to get Florence Aubenas freed.

Current minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he could give no information about the hostage-takers, apart from saying there were other hostages being held where Aubenas had been detained.

The French government spoke as the country's press led a chorus of goodwill today for Aubenas, a reporter for the daily newspaper Liberation.

"Thanks" ran today's headline on Liberation following the release at the weekend of the 44-year-old journalist and her Iraqi guide, Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi.

Liberation's co-founder and director, Serge July, told French radio Aubenas was "an incredible fighter, with a considerable psychological resistance, who in many ways simply didn't crack".

Aubenas returned to France yesterday and was met by friends and family at Villacoublay airport, outside Paris.

She had spent 157 days of captivity after going missing on January 5.

Although she spoke briefly to reporters, Aubenas has yet to provide information about the identity of her kidnappers or details about her release

Three Romanian journalists who were held in Iraq for nearly two months have said they were kept for 51 days in a cellar alongside Aubenas.

"If there was a hero in this whole story, it was Florence," Marie-Jeanne Ion, one of the Romanians, told Liberation. "She encouraged us all during the moments of depression."

The editorial director at Liberation, Antoine de Gaudemar, said the journalist apparently suffered no ill treatment or harassment while in captivity.