Kidnappers raise ransom demand to $1million

MILITANTS holding a Cypriot businessman hostage in Iraq have doubled their ransom demand to a million dollars.

Garabet Jean Jikerjian was taken from his home in Baghdad on August 21. They initially demanded that the Lebanese company he worked for pull out of Iraq. When it did, they also asked for $20,000 in ransom money, which was paid, but without securing Jikerjian’s release. His captives then demanded $2 million, before coming down to $500,000 and now rising back to a million dollars, according to his family in Cyprus.
They also extended a Sunday deadline to allow the money to be raised.

After being informed that the company was very small and could not pay that sort of money, the kidnappers stated that they would be in touch in three or four days with a reply. Jikerjian’s family is now waiting in hope for the response of the kidnappers.
Jikerjian, who holds dual Lebanese and Cypriot citizenship, was kidnapped from his Baghdad home by a militant group calling itself ‘The Group for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’

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