An Egyptian truck driver held hostage by insurgents in Iraq has been freed, the pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera reported Monday.
The man, Alsayeid Mohammed Alsayeid Algarabawi, was reported captured July 6 when a group calling itself the Iraqi Legitimate Resistance released a video showing him surrounded by masked gunmen.
Sources in the Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad said Algarabawi had been freed Monday, Al-Jazeera reported.
The group holding Algarabawi — which claimed to have snatched him as he drove a fuel truck from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. military in Iraq — never threatened him, but made a series of demands on his Saudi company, including asking for $1 million ransom and insisting it stop doing business in Iraq.
The company refused the ransom, but agreed to end its business here, according to Faisal al-Naheet, a subcontractor who spoke on behalf of the Al-Jarie Transport company,
In response to the kidnapping, Egypt advised its citizens to stop seeking jobs in Iraq.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians work in the Gulf states and send money to their families at home, where unemployment is high.
Last month, another Egyptian driver, Victor Tawfiq Gerges, was released after being held hostage by militant groups in Iraq for more than two weeks