Captured marine 'alive and free'

Last updated at 15:34 06 July 2004


A Lebanese-born US marine is alive and free after having been thought to have been decapitated by his captors in Iraq, the hostage's brother said today.

Wassef Ali Hassoun's brother Sami, speaking from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, said his family had received word Hassoun was alive and had been released in the early hours of today, but declined to specify the source of the information.

"We got solid assurances that my brother is alive and was released today," he told reporters.

Confusion over fate

There has been confusion in the last several days about Hassoun's fate, with statements on websites attributed to one Islamist group saying he had been decapitated, then that he was still alive.

The Islamic Response Movement said last night that Hassoun had been moved to "safety" after pledging to leave the military.

Hassoun's family in Lebanon had appealed to his captors to have mercy on him as an Arab and a Muslim, and called on an Iraqi religious group which has negotiated the release of hostages seized by Islamists in Iraq to help free him.

The US military has confirmed that Hassoun went missing from his unit but declined comment on media reports that he had been lured away from his base in Iraq after a romance with an Arab woman.

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