http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Sheikhs-role-pivotal-to-rescue/2005/06/16/1118869040803.htmlWood would probably have been freed regardless, a spokesman for Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali says.Senior Australian Muslim leader Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali played a pivotal role leading to the rescue of Douglas Wood, the sheikh’s spokesman said yesterday.
Hafez Malas, a member of the executive committee of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said he talked to Sheikh Hilali yesterday morning, and the sheikh had thanked God that his mission to Iraq was a success.
“He used every channel to save Douglas,” Mr Malas said. “He said, ‘Thanks Allah that Douglas is safe, it doesn’t matter how and who (rescued him)’.”
Prime Minister John Howard paid tribute on Wednesday to Australia’s Islamic community and the sheikh for their efforts to help Mr Wood.
Mr Malas said that one week before the release, Sheikh Hilali had received confirmation from Iraqi clerics and tribal leaders acting as intermediaries that Mr Wood was safe, and that it would be “a matter of days” before he was released.
The arrangements had been in place for Mr Wood to be freed, but there had been a wait while a safe route was found to take him from where he was being held in Baghdad, to the Australian embassy, he said.
“He (Sheikh Hilali) played a big role,” Mr Malas said. “He has said that, and we say that, too.”
According to al-Jazeera reports in Iraq, security forces had been looking for Iraqi criminals and discovered Mr Wood by coincidence.
Had the discovery not occurred, Mr Wood would probably still have been rescued because of Sheikh Hilali’s efforts to secure his release, Mr Malas said.
He also said that a $US25 million ($A32.6 million) ransom initially demanded by Mr Wood’s captors had offended Iraqi clerics and tribal leaders who had offered information leading to the hostage’s release.
Ransoms are forbidden under Islamic law, and instead, Mr Wood’s family had offered a $US100,000 donation to a Iraqi hospital, which had not yet been paid, he said.
A friend of Sheikh Hilali, the Sydney-based president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia Keysar Trad, said he had spoken to the mufti three times late on Wednesday.
Mr Trad also said that Sheikh Hilali laid the groundwork for Mr Wood’s release.
“He said that all the assurances were given to him that Douglas Wood was being transported to a safe place for him to be picked up.
“He said that he had been given the first indication on the weekend and was told on Tuesday that all the arrangements had been made, all the transportation had been made, and that there had (initially) been some demand for ransom . . . but there was no issue of money.”
Mr Trad said Mr Wood had been taken from the Iraqi city of Ramadi to a safe house in the capital, where Iraqi troops found him hidden under a blanket with his hands bound.
Although Sheikh Hilali was the main player in intricate negotiations, he did not try to claim credit for Mr Wood’s release, he said.
“He said it was a co-operative effort . . . and that we should celebrate the release of Douglas Wood.”
Speaking from Cairo, Sheikh Hilali yesterday told SBS Radio: “My mission is successful. Douglas Wood is alive and free.
“Thank God for the strength and patience (given) me in this difficult and dangerous mission. I am happy that Australia have (found) Douglas Wood alive and free.
“I would like to thank the honest Iraqis for helping me secure the release of Douglas Wood and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and Nick Warner (the head of Australia’s emergency taskforce sent to Iraq).”
SBS executive producer Majida Abboud-Saab said Sheikh Hilali, the Australian Government and Mr Wood’s family had been informed that Douglas Wood was alive and safe weeks ago, when they were shown a video dated May 25 showing Mr Wood reading a newspaper and speaking about the events of the day.
“Throughout all this, the sheikh was confident that Douglas Wood was going to be released,” she said.
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Business Behind The Scenes In Baghdad
Deborah Snow, The Sydney Morning Herald – June 18, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Business-behind-the-scenes-in-Baghdad/2005/06/17/1118869095324.html
The exact role played by the Muslim cleric Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly in the Douglas Wood saga has many questions hanging over it, but it seems a little-known Sydney-based Iraqi businessman may have played a key part.
Hilaly, known as mufti (national religious leader) to his followers, became involved after the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils approached the Wood family to see if it could assist.
The federation organised a meeting between Wood’s brothers and Hilaly on May 7, a week or so after the abduction.
Later that night there was a meeting between Hilaly and the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, in a private home in Sydney. The federation was not at the meeting. Instead, another prominent Islamic community figure, Keysar Trad, translated for the sheik. Trad says the sheik wanted to see “what the Government could offer” and whether he would go to Iraq with official blessing. Ruddock’s office confirmed the meeting took place. But according to Trad, Ruddock’s response was not encouraging.
Despite this, Hilaly left for Baghdad on May 9, accompanied by a Sydney businessman, Qusai Abdulaziz.
Abdulaziz, a wholesaler, had been an anti-Baathist activist in Baghdad 35 years before. Though he had not been back to the Iraqi capital since, he and Hilaly apparently believed his past links with dissidents would help open channels to Wood’s captors.
Speaking to the Herald yesterday through Trad as an interpreter, Abdulaziz said Hilaly’s initial pleas over Arabic TV had resulted in a stay of execution for Wood.
The pair then set about contacting the Council of Muslim Scholars in Baghdad, tribal elders, the Iraqi Islamic Party, and a provincial official within the explosive Sunni triangle. According to Trad and Abdulaziz, doors opened quickly because of Abdulaziz’s history as a dissident who had earned a death sentence in absentia.
“A number of the clerics issued statements in support of the mufti’s mission, appealing for the release as a favour to the mufti because the mufti was their guest,” Trad said.
Abdulaziz told the Herald he and Hilaly were in touch with the head of the Australian Government rescue effort in Baghdad, Nick Warner, almost daily.
None of the people Hilaly and Abdulaziz were dealing with admitted having direct contact with Wood’s captors. However, on one occasion, Hilaly was approached in a hotel foyer by a man who handed him a mobile phone. The call was from men purporting to be the abductors, and Hilaly spoke briefly to an English-speaker whom he was told was Wood.
The person who had handed him the phone then disappeared. Medication for Wood’s heart condition was passed over in the foyer when someone approached without warning to ask for it, then vanished.
Abdulaziz claimed he and Hilaly were “under constant surveillance” in Baghdad from Iraqi, US, Israeli and other intelligence agencies. Abdulaziz also claimed that during the last two days of their stay they were tipped off that their hotel room was bugged.
Abdulaziz returned to Sydney about May 20 while Hilaly left for medical treatment in Cairo, returning later to Baghdad. During this time Hilaly was shown a video proving Wood was alive.
Abdulaziz said he received a call in Sydney two days before Wood’s rescue, saying Wood was to be released. There remains scepticism in the Hilaly camp about the military role in procuring Wood’s liberation.
The picture is further muddied by a sharp dispute between Keysar Trad and the federation about who is entitled to speak for the sheik. It is dismissive of Trad, who recently lost his position as head of the Lebanese Muslim Association.
The federation says remaining questions about the sheik’s role will not be answered until a press conference on Monday.