 | Victim Daniel Pearl | Main suspect Saeed Sheikh |
American Bela Nuss knows only too well about the fanaticism that drives theIslamic militants who murdered reporter Daniel Pearl. Eight years ago, Nuss was kidnapped by a gang led by the same man who confessed to abducting Pearl.He recalls the horror of kidnappers holding a gun to his head. He remembers how one of them later laughed while being tortured by police. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Pearl's confessed kidnapper, was the frontman in Nuss' 1994 abduction, too. Friendly, well-spoken and intellectually curious is how Nuss describes the young British-born man who befriended him in a New Delhi restaurant and invited him to eat with his family. Traveling alone and keen to experience Indian family life before his monthslong tour ended, the then 43-year-old Californian tourist happily accepted. But the family turned out to be a gang of militants who chained Nuss to the floor of a stifling, mosquito-ridden windowless room, took photos of him with a gun to his head and demanded the release of comrades jailed for fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Nuss was rescued after 12 days in captivity. But Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter abducted Jan. 23 in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, was killed. One of those extremists was Saeed. In Nuss' case, he and Saeed climbed into a car with men Nuss assumed also were going to the family meal. One pulled a gun. Nuss' mind reeled. Saeed sat beside him and warned Nuss to stay calm. "He was giving me the `everything is going to be all right line,' and telling me not to do anything because if I did there would be trouble," Nuss said. "As nice as they appear, and as friendly and as solicitous as they are, they change on a dime," he said. "It's kind of frightening because they're really driven. Like any religious fanatic, they're blind to a lot of things. They're so intent and focused." At the house, Saeed left Nuss with other captors. Nuss never saw Saeed there again. The captors spoke only broken English, kept him under constant guard and prayed three to five times a day, Nuss said. Their leader "made the hair on my neck stand up," he said. "He was absolutely frightening. He just wanted to kill me, I could see. I knew he was going to kill me in a second when the time came." That time never came. Indian police broke into the house and freed Nuss. He told police that Saeed had said they also were holding three British tourists. The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. Nuss, now aged 51, said the lead captor taunted police who tried to force him to reveal where the Britons were. The Britons were freed unharmed. Saeed was arrested and held until Dec. 1999, when India exchanged him for passengers on an Indian Airlines jet hijacked to Afghanistan. Note:
on a dime: all of a sudden; immediately(Agencies) | 美國人貝拉·努斯對前些天殺害了美國記者丹尼·珀爾的伊斯蘭極端狂熱分子實在是太了解了，因為就在八年前，努斯也曾遭到這伙人的綁架，而這伙人的頭目和此次珀爾綁架案的主犯正是同一個人。 努斯回憶了當時被幫匪用槍指著腦袋時的可怕情景。他還記得，后來這幫家伙中的一個在警察對他進行拷問的時候竟然哈哈大笑。 自稱是珀爾綁架案的主犯艾哈邁德·奧馬爾·賽義德·謝赫正是1994年綁架努斯的那伙人的頭目。 努斯和英國出生的賽義德是在印度新德里的一家餐館里相遇的，并受到賽義德朋友般的招待。努斯形容賽義德是個友好的、善于言辭的、好學的年輕人，他邀請努斯到他家里吃飯。當時努斯正在一個人旅行，他很想在結束為期一個月的旅行之前體驗一下印度家庭的情況，于是這位43歲的加利福尼亞游客愉快地接受了邀請。 然而迎接努斯的并不是什么印度家庭，而是一群武裝分子。他們用鏈子把努斯鎖在一間令人窒息的、蚊子滿天飛而且沒有窗戶的房間里，用槍指著他的腦袋，并拍下了當時的情形，以此要挾釋放他們在同控制克什米爾地區(qū)的印度軍隊的激戰(zhàn)中被俘的同伴。 努斯在遭綁架12天之后獲救。然而《華爾街日報》記者珀爾2002年1月23日在巴基斯坦南部城市卡拉奇遭到綁架后，（并沒有這么幸運），卻慘遭殺害。 賽義德正是珀爾綁架案中極端分子的一員。在努斯綁架案中，努斯和賽義德一起爬上了一輛車，車上還有幾個人，努斯認為他們肯定也是準備去賽義德家"赴宴"的人。然而他們中的一個掏出了槍，努斯頓時感到一陣眩暈。 賽義德坐在努斯旁邊，警告努斯保持安靜。努斯回憶說："他（賽義德）告訴我說'不要輕舉妄動'，他讓我什么也不要做，否則就會有麻煩。" 努斯說："同當初表現(xiàn)的和善、友好、對人關懷備至相比，他們的態(tài)度急轉(zhuǎn)直下。真是太可怕了，他們已經(jīng)被宗教沖昏了頭腦。正如每一個宗教狂熱分子一樣，他們對許多事情視而不見，非常地堅決和執(zhí)著。" 到達那所房子后，賽義德把努斯交給其他綁匪，此后努斯就再也沒有見到過他。努斯回憶說，那些綁匪只能說斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的英語，對他的看守毫不放松，他們每天都要祈禱三到五次。努斯說："綁匪頭目撩起我脖子上的頭發(fā)。他簡直可怕極了。我知道他要殺我。我知道時間一到他就會在眨眼之間殺了我。" 幸運的是那個時刻永遠沒有到來。印度警察沖進那所房子，解救了努斯。努斯告訴警察他聽賽義德說過他們還綁架了其他三名英國游客。幫匪們曾經(jīng)威脅說如果印度方面不釋放他們的同伙，他們就要將這四名人質(zhì)全部斬首。如今已經(jīng)51歲的努斯說，當警方試圖逼綁匪頭目說出那些英國游客的下落時，那個人竟然還把警察們嘲弄了一番。
那些英國游客最終都被安全解救了。賽義德則被逮捕入獄，直到1999年12月賽義德又被作為交換被劫持到阿富汗坎大哈的一架印度客機上的乘客，被印度當局釋放。 (中國日報網(wǎng)站譯) |
Updated: 2002-02-25 01:00
