06/12/2013 19:02
Syrian rebels demand to free prisoners in exchange for release of nuns
The Syrian Brigades of free Kalamun group has claimed responsibility for kidnapping 12 nuns from a women’s monastery in the village of Ma’loula and demanded to release 1,000 female inmates from Syrian prisons, the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper reports on Friday, according to the Voice of Russia.
“The nuns are held in a safe place but they won’t be released until our demands are fulfilled. The most important of them is a release of 1,000 Syrian jailed women,” the newspaper quotes the group’s leader as saying.
According to him, kidnappers’ demands were voiced to the Vatican in a telephone conversation between the abbess of the monastery and Catholic Church representatives.
Earlier, there were reports that Syrian opposition fighters had kidnapped 12 nuns from a women’s monastery in the Christian village of Ma’loula, 60 km away from Damascus.