With the exception of a few hostages such as
CIA Bureau Chief
William Francis Buckley and Marine Colonel
William Higgins (who were both killed), most were chosen not for any political activity or alleged wrongdoing, but because of the country they came from and the ease of kidnapping. Despite this, they were physically mistreated, repeatedly beaten and subjected to mock executions. Some of the hostages were: •
David S. Dodge. Among the first victims whose case was widely publicized was
American University of Beirut president David Dodge, abducted 19 July 1982 and freed on July 21, 1983. According to Lebanese journalist
Hala Jaber, "Dodge was abducted initially by pro-Palestinian Lebanese" in hopes of pressuring the Americans to pressure Israel which had invaded Lebanon to stop Lebanon-based
PLO attacks. After the PLO evacuated Lebanon, Dodge was taken into Iranian custody, and moved him from
Beqaa Valley to
Tehran. The Iranians hoped to use Dodge to gain the release of four Iranian officials who had been kidnapped by Lebanese Christians in July 1982. The four Iranians were never found. Dodge spent the next three months in
Evin Prison, and was asked for information about the kidnapped Iranians whenever he was interrogated. •
Benjamin Weir. The Presbyterian minister was kidnapped in May 1984 by three armed men while strolling with his wife. Weir may have thought he was safe from harm from Muslims because he lived in Shiite West Beirut working with Muslim charities, and had lived in Lebanon since 1958. Two days after his abduction, a telephone message claimed: "Islamic Jihad organization claims it is responsible for the abduction ... in order to renew our acceptance of Reagan's challenge [to fight "state terrorism"] and to confirm our commitment of the statement ... that we will not leave any American on Lebanese soil". He was released mid-September 1985. •
Terry A. Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, was the longest held hostage believed to be captured by Shiite Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad Organization. Anderson was seized on March 16, 1985, finally being released December 4, 1991. Schmidt was released in September 1987. Cordes was released in September 1988. •
Thomas Sutherland, former Dean of Agriculture at the
American University of Beirut in
Lebanon, was kidnapped by
Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985. He was released on November 18, 1991, at the same time as
Terry Waite, •
Terry Waite, an Anglican church envoy, disappeared on January 20, 1987, while on a negotiating mission to free the other kidnap victims. He spent almost five years in captivity, nearly four years of it in solitary confinement, after he was seized by Islamic Jihad from a go-between's house in Lebanon. Before his release in November 1991 he was frequently blindfolded, as well as having been beaten early in his period of imprisonment and subjected to a mock execution. He was chained, suffered desperately from
asthma, and was once transported in a refrigerator as his captors moved him about. • Joseph J. Cicippio, who was working as the acting comptroller at the
American University in Beirut when he was taken hostage on September 12, 1986. He spent 1,908 days in captivity, and released on December 2, 1991. He spent most of his time chained in a small room with one other hostage. Following his release, Cicippio was one of several that successfully sued Iran for damages as sponsoring Hezbollah under the
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, being awarded . His children subsequently attempted to sue Iran for emotional damages
Cicippio-Puleo v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2004) but which was dismissed by the courts as the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act did not allow for foreign nations to be subject to private
cause of action lawsuits, which led to Congress making a significant changes to FSIA in 2008 to enhance terrorist exceptions in sovereign immunity and assure foreign nations were responsible for actions of their officials tied to
state-sponsored terrorism.
Killed •
William Francis Buckley. Former CIA Bureau Chief, Beirut, taken hostage by Islamic Jihad, Mar 16, 1984. On October 3, 1985, the Islamic Jihad Organization claimed to have killed him. The Islamic Jihad Organization later released to a Beirut newspaper a photograph purporting to depict his corpse. Press reports stated that Buckley had been transferred to Iran, where he was tortured and killed. Former American hostage David Jacobsen revealed that Buckley actually died of a heart attack brought on by torture, probably on June 3, 1985. His remains were found in a plastic sack on the side of the road to the
Beirut airport in 1991. •
Alec Collett, a British employee for
UNRWA, was kidnapped along with his Austrian driver on March 25, 1985. The Austrian was only briefly held then released. In a videotape released in April 1986, Collett was shown being hanged by his kidnappers. Collett's body was not found until November 2009. • Four
Soviet diplomats were kidnapped on September 30, 1985. Arkady Katkov, a consular attaché, was killed by his captors; the other three (Oleg Spirin, Valery Mirikov, and Nikolai Svirsky) were released a month later. •
Michel Seurat. On February 10, 1986, the Islamic Jihad Organization released a photograph that claimed to show the body of French sociologist Michel Seurat, who had been kidnapped earlier. On 5 March 1986 Islamic Jihad claimed it had executed Seurat. His fellow hostages revealed on their release that Seurat had died of hepatitis. His body was found in October 2005. •
Peter Kilburn,
Leigh Douglas, and
Philip Padfield. On April 17, 1986, the bodies of these three American University of Beirut employees, American citizen Peter Kilburn and Britons Leigh Douglas and Philip Padfield, were discovered near Beirut. The Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims claimed to have executed the three men in retaliation for the United States air raid on Libya on April 15, 1986. Islamic Jihad denied responsibility for the killing which it blamed on the CIA, (along with an attempted assassination of the Emir of Kuwait and bombing in Saudi Arabia).
Escaped or rescued •
Frank Regier. An American engineering professor at the American University of Beirut. He was kidnapped on February 10, 1984, when he walked off the campus grounds. He was freed after several months in captivity by
Amal militiamen, who raided the Beirut hideout of his extremist captors on April 15, 1984. Islamic Jihad responded by threatening Amal. • Christian Joubert. A French architect working with a Lebanese construction company. He was kidnapped on February 15, 1984, in West Beirut. He was rescued on April 15, 1984, along with Frank Regier. •
Jonathan Wright. A British journalist who escaped from his captors in September 1984. •
Jeremy Levin. An American journalist and bureau chief for
CNN. He was kidnapped on March 7, 1984, while walking to his office in West Beirut. •
Michel Brillant. A French teacher working at the French Protestant College. He was kidnapped on April 9, 1986, in Hamra and was released four days later on April 13, 1986, in the Beqaa Valley. He was freed on July 16, 1986, when the Lebanese Army caught his captors. •
David Hirst. On September 26, 1986, British journalist David Hirst escaped by bolting from his captors' automobile in a Shia neighborhood of Beirut. •
Jean-Marc Sroussi several days later (from September 26, 1986) French television correspondent Jean-Marc Sroussi escaped from a locked shed days after his capture. ==Perpetrators==