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Pakistani 'Saw Iraq Beheadings'
The BBC News
July 12, 2004
A Pakistani man who has returned home after being freed by hostage-takers in Iraq says three fellow captives were beheaded in front of him.
Amjad Hafeez, 26, arrived at Islamabad airport on Friday morning for an emotional family reunion.
Mr Hafeez, who was working as a driver for an American company when kidnapped on 25 June, was released on 2 July.
Mr Hafeez was reunited with his family amid emotional scenes at Islamabad airport.
His mother, Saeeda Jan, said: "I cannot say a word to explain how happy I am to see my son."
Mr Hafeez told the BBC's Urdu service he had been abducted at gunpoint near Nasariyah and given an injection which made him unconscious.
He said his kidnappers accused him of being a CIA spy and beat him for three days.
He was then told he was about to be beheaded and he asked to pray for one last time.
Mr Hafeez said he was led into another room where three other captives were beheaded in front of him.
"The people who were beheaded - their hands and legs were tied and one fat guy came and beheaded all three of them one by one after saying Allah-o-Akbar [God is Great]."
Mr Hafeez said his fate was then discussed and he had no idea why he was spared.
Mr Hafeez thanked Pakistani TV channels for screening repeatedly the appeals of his mother for his release.
He added that he would "like to meet President Pervez Musharraf personally to express my thanks".
The Pakistani president welcomed his release and had said throughout that the kidnapping "was against religion and Islam".
Mr Hafeez, his family's only breadwinner, said he was on six months' leave from his job and may return to Kuwait, where he was based.
But he would never go back to Iraq and urged other Pakistanis not to go there.
His mother said: "I am not afraid if my son goes back to his job, as death and life are in the hands of Allah."
Mr Hafeez later met Sardar Muhammad Anwar Khan, the president of Pakistan-administered Kashmir where he lives, to thank him.
"Allah has given [Mr Hafeez] a new life," Mr Khan said.
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