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Topic: Italian intelligence lied about hostage rescue to hide ransom payment (Read 273 times)

newbie
Activity: 28
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round them on a bark, put fire to the bark, watch them die. pirate solved. all ships sail russian now...
legendary
Activity: 1582
Merit: 1064
It is difficult to say that you paid a ransom and get labelled as a "soft country". However, if you stick to your principled stand and hostages get executed, the government will face a backlash.
The Italian government seems to have found a way around this.  Smiley
newbie
Activity: 28
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I love when they try to breach checkpoint thinking they are some kind of superhero because a journalist is bleeding... private sec is harder. Smiley.
hero member
Activity: 560
Merit: 500
Leaked document shows Italy made up story about 2012 rescue of Bruno Pelizzari and Debbie Calitz to hide ransom payment

Italy’s intelligence service helped concoct a false story about a rescue of hostages by security forces to hide a ransom payment, according to a leaked spy agency document.

The payment was made for the release of Bruno Pelizzari, an Italian, and South African Debbie Calitz, who were taken by Somali pirates in 2010 and released in 2012.

The document marked “secret” says the Italian intelligence agency AISE paid a ransom of $525,000 (£346,000). “To conceal the payment of the ransom, AISE, SNSA (Somalia’s national security agency) and the hostages agreed to inform the media and public that the release of the hostages was the result of a successful rescue operation by the Somali security forces.”

The document highlights the contradictions in the international response to kidnapping. Both the US and UK governments refuse to pay ransoms, but other European countries have a more ambiguous approach, routinely making payments while publicly denying it.

The Italian government response to the case of Pelizzari and Calitz reflects the confusion and obfuscation. Instead of acknowledging that a ransom had been paid or simply refusing to comment, it deliberately sought to mislead.

David Cameron at a Nato summit last year reminded members, who include Italy, of their commitment not to pay ransoms.

The document revealing the Italian subterfuge is part of the spy cables cache obtained by the al-Jazeera investigative unit and shared with the Guardian. Some of the cache, which includes documents from intelligence agencies around the world, was published earlier this year and included disclosures about divisions in Israel over the Iranian nuclear programme and the targeting of the head of Greenpeace international

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/italian-intelligence-lied-hostage-rescue-bruno-pelizzari-debbie-calitz
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