Italian Hostages Shown Alive on Arab TV

[Barrett808]

ROME - Weeks after their capture, three Italians taken hostage in Iraq were shown in a video broadcast Wednesday in Italy.

Four Italian men working as private guards in Iraq were kidnapped April 12. Soon after, the captors executed one, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, and issued a videotape of his killing.

The footage shown Wednesday on the Al-Jazeera satellite network — and immediately re-broadcast on Italian television — depicted the three remaining hostages eating and sitting in chairs before the camera. The men were bearded and a little haggard but seemed not to have been physically harmed.

One of the hostages, Salvatore Stefio, addressed the camera and stated the date as Monday, May 31, saying they were being treated well.

"He struck me as being like he was when he left, perfect, healthy. It means they haven't lied and that they treat them well," the hostage's father, Angelo Stefio, told the ANSA news agency. "It had been more than 40 days since I'd seen him."

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