September Estonians kidnapped in Lebanon last month appeared on a video posted late Tuesday unauthenticated YouTube, imploring leaders Lebanese, Jordanian, Saudi and French to help them so they can return home.
Lebanon Files website was informed Wednesday of the publication of this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIHXHk4c5Gw&feature=player_embedded), posted by a user who is as thekidnaper2011 (the ravisseur2011 " , Ed).
The video, which lasts over a minute, shows perfectly shaved seven men in sportswear and appear healthy. They speak English and beg to turn for help.
"We look to you, Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan, French PresidentSarkozy, please do anything to help us go home, "said one of them.
"Please give what they (the kidnappers) asked (...), do everything so that we can go home, our families as soon as possible."
"It's really a difficult situation," said another. "Please do anything, all it takes for you to go home."
The video was released just hours after the Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet had concluded a visit to Lebanon without any news about the seven Estonian tourists kidnapped March 23 in eastern Lebanon.
The seven cyclists Estonians were abducted by a group of Lebanese and Syrians, according to security services.From Syria through the border post of Masnaa, they were intercepted by gunmen in Zahle in the Bekaa Valley.
In an email sent on April 5 at a website of Lebanon, a previously unknown splinter group, Al Nahda Haraket Wal Islah (Movement for Renewal and Reform), claimed the kidnapping of seven Estonians and demanded a ransom for their release , saying they were healthy.
Friday, 11 people, seven in custody and four at large, were charged in the kidnapping of Estonians.
Since the crisis of Western hostages in the 1980s in civil war (1975-1990), kidnappings of foreign tourists are very rare in Lebanon.
The Bekaa Valley is plagued by drug trafficking and rivalries between clan groups.
