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Thursday, September 23, 2004
A Calgary woman held hostage in Iraq for two weeks
managed to escape beheading after convincing one of
her captors that if he set her free, she would help
him start a new life in Canada, her family revealed
Wednesday.
The secret deal was brokered one day after armed
terrorists threatened to execute Fairuz Yamulky
unless they were paid $2.5 million US and
authorities agreed to free 50 female Iraqi
prisoners, her father said Wednesday.
The kidnappers also demanded Fairuz's employer,
G.S.S. International, build 150 homes in various
Iraqi cities to replace those destroyed by American
bombs, he said.
But on Tuesday afternoon, as the group's leader was
negotiating with Yamulky's family, the 38-year-old
mother of two found herself locked in a Fallujah
home with a single guard watching over her. By 5
p.m. local time, her father said, she had persuaded
the unidentified man to let her go in return for
helping to bring him to Canada.
"My daughter is very smart and clever, and she was
able to convince him and talk to him in a nice way,"
said Kamal Yamulky, who was in regular contact with
the kidnappers since last week. "She did a good
job."
The federal government Wednesday would not discuss
Yamulky's case, other than to confirm reports she
was picked up Tuesday night by a team of U.S.
National Guard soldiers and to say the Department of
Foreign Affairs was closely monitoring the
situation.
But the woman's family -- ecstatic over her escape
-- revealed chilling details about her two-week
ordeal, from the day she was abducted at gunpoint to
the night she was freed.
"She's a very tough chick, that's all I know," said
her younger sister, Lausanne Ham, who, like most of
the Yamulky family -- eight sisters and two brothers
-- lives in the Vancouver area.
Yamulky, an Iraqi-born Kurd, moved to Canada in 1993
and became a citizen in 1997. She spent the past
decade moving between British Columbia and Calgary,
where up until last year she was employed by the
Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.
In 2003, however, she and her two sons -- aged 14
and eight -- packed up and moved to the United Arab
Emirates. After operating her own business, Yamulky
Trading Company, she was offered a job at G.S.S., a
firm that does contract supply work for the U.S.
military in Iraq.
She accepted and by Aug. 28 was back in Baghdad.
That move worried her father.
"I said: 'Please Fairuz, be careful, because you
never know what can happen,' " the 72-year-old
recalled on Wednesday from Dubai, where he was
visiting on business when his daughter went missing.
"She said: 'Don't worry dad. You know me, I'm very
brave. And don't believe the media. They are
exaggerating things in Baghdad."'
That conversation occurred Sept. 6. The next day, as
Yamulky was driving with a fellow worker and a
bodyguard, their truck was ambushed. The gun-toting
kidnappers allowed the men to flee, but they kept
Yamulky.
"For a week, we had absolutely no news," said her
29-year-old sister, Roxanne. "We had no clue where
she was."
Then, a letter was received at the office of
Yamulky's employer with instructions to the family
as to how to reach the kidnappers in order to start
negotiations.
The family and the government decided to keep the
hostage-taking secret, fearing publicity could upset
the kidnappers.
Kamal Yamulky pleaded directly with the group's
leader to give him more time to scrounge together
the money. He also wanted to talk to his daughter to
ensure she was still alive, but the man on the other
end of the phone simply yelled and swore,
reiterating his threat.
Kamal Yamulky was exhausted. He had not slept in
days, and when Monday turned into Tuesday, he
officially missed his deadline.
He was in front of his computer that afternoon when
he learned his daughter was safe. After fleeing with
her one-time captor, he said, she was aided by
Canadian Embassy officials, who later turned her
over to U.S. officials for questioning.
"If I had wings, I'd fly," Viyan Yamulky said as she
joined many of Fairuz's sisters and brothers to
celebrate at her Vancouver home. "We couldn't tell
the truth to anybody. With a group like that you
never know what will happen."
Viyan also noted the Central Intelligence Agency
stepped in at one point to try and help negotiate
her sister's release.
Yamulky remains in a secure location and
negotiations are underway to fly her back to Canada.
She is believed to have suffered bumps and bruises
-- perhaps a broken shoulder -- but she seemed well
during brief conversations with her family.
"She was really emotional when we heard her voice,"
said Roxanne. "She was really relieved."
As for the kidnapper who apparently helped her flee,
his whereabouts remain unknown, although it is
believed he is being questioned by U.S. authorities.
"I don't have any sympathy for him," Kamal Yamulky
said. "Because if he was a good guy from the
beginning, he would have never joined them.."
He is, however, grateful for the work of the Foreign
Affairs Department.
"It was really, really, really appreciated," he
said. "That's why I am proud to be Canadian."
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2004
http://www.canada.com/victoria
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