Four kidnapped workers from a French charity aiding Christians in the Middle East have been released two months after they were taken hostage in Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the release of the four members of SOS Chrétiens d’Orient Thursday and thanked Iraqi authorities for their cooperation with France to free them, according to the Associated Press.The four workers — three of them French, one Iraqi — went missing in late January when they were conducting administrative tasks, the organization reported.
4⃣????#SOSChrétiensdOrient se félicite et se réjouit de la libération de ses 4 collaborateurs disparus le 20 janvier dernier à Bagdad, en ????????#Irak.
L’association remercie vivement les autorités françaises pour leur travail, ainsi que les autorités irakiennes. pic.twitter.com/dgOi6Us1rN
— SOS Chrétiens d’Orient (@SOSCdOrient) March 26, 2020
“SOS Chrétiens d’Orient welcomes the release of its four collaborators who disappeared on January 20 in Baghdad, Iraq,” the group tweeted Thursday. “The association warmly thanks the French authorities for their work, as well as the Iraqi authorities.”
Their liberation comes the day France began pulling out troops from Iraq as the French military is deployed to help fight the coronavirus, the Associated Press reported. President Macron did not provide details. (RELATED: Churches Suspend Worship Services In DC, Maryland And Virginia Over Coronavirus)
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient is a French non-governmental organization that provides aid to Christians in conflict zones.