Iraqi captors free French reporter held for 157 days

The French journalist, Florence Aubenas, came home to a triumphant and emotional reception last night after five months of captivity in Iraq.

Mme. Aubenas, 44, a correspondent for the newspaper Libération, arrived at an air force base near Paris after her released on Saturday in circumstances unexplained by authorities.

The journalist, welcomed to the Villacoublay base by President Jacques Chirac and members of her family, said she had been kept bound and blindfolded, squatting in a cellar for much of her captivity.

She said nothing about the nature or motives of her captors, nor the reasons for her release.

The head of Libération, Serge July, spoke of a "quite complicated military operation", which had led to her handover to French secret service agents after her kidnappers led them on a chase "for 50 miles in and around Baghdad". A press conference to reveal more details will be held at the Libération offices tomorrow.

The journalist's Iraqi translator and guide, and fellow hostage, Hussein Hanoun, was also released unharmed on Saturday and returned to Baghdad.

Mme. Aubenas spent 157 days as a hostage ­ 33 days longer than Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, the French journalists released in Iraq in December. She disappeared while on an assignment close to Baghdad on 5 January.

In brief comments to the press, Mme. Aubenas said she has first realised her release might be close when captors allowed her to watch a TV programme about street demonstrations in France to support her.

"They untied my hands and feet that day to complete the party," she said. "The next time you have a demonstration for me, I'll come along. When you see something like that when you're squatting on the ground, it really impresses you, I can tell you."

Until last week, little had been heard from her captors. Even yesterday, authorities declined to comment on the nature of the group that had captured Florence and Hussein and the nature of negotiations which led to their release. The government formally denied suggestions that a ransom had been paid.

The defence minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, said that thanks were due to the DGSE, the French equivalent of MI6, but she did not elaborate.

Robert Ménard, the head of a French press freedom pressure group, Reporters Sans Frontières, said on Saturday that the hostage-takers had asked for a £8m ransom a few weeks after Florence and Hussain disappeared.

Even before it was revealed yesterday that Mme. Aubenas had been freed, the foreign ministry contradicted the claim. "Talk of a so-called ransom absolutely fails to correspond with reality," the ministry said.

M. Menard said later he "expressed himself badly".

As with the two previous journalists taken hostage, Florence's abduction provoked intensive diplomatic and secret service efforts by the French authorities and mobilised enormous, popular sympathy in France. All French newspapers and radio and TV bulletins published daily reminders of the disappearance. Libération published a daily page of messages from well-wishers.

To keep her name in the news, Florence's supporters organised a series of concerts, rallies, balloon launches and torch-lit vigils

Unlike the Chesnot and Malbrunot kidnapping, little was heard from Florence's captors. A video tape was released in March in which she appeared distraught but no particular demands were made.

Sources close to the Aubenas affair said that, for many weeks, the French and Iraqi authorities had no idea who captured her and what their motives were.

Last week, Libération announced that, for the first time, contacts had been established which gave reason for hope. The nature of those contacts remained unclear last night.

Two Romanian journalists, released from captivity in Iraq last month, said yesterday they had spent six weeks in the same cell as Florence and Hussain from 1 April. Marie-Jeanne Ion said: "Mme. Aubenas caused some consternation last night when she flatly denied having seen the Romanians who saw her."

President Jacques Chirac, whose popularity at home has sunk to an all-time low since he lost the referendum on the European constitution a fortnight ago, lost no time yesterday in associating himself with Florence's release. He made a radio and television broadcast and spoke of the "joy of the entire nation" at the release of Mme. Aubenas.