The three Romanian journalists who were taken hostage yesterday have now been shown in a video.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Al-Jazeera satellite channel aired a tape Wednesday said to show three kidnapped Romanian journalists and a fourth unidentified person.

The tape showed the four seated on the ground in a room, with a blanket hung behind them. Two men — their faces covered with scarves — pointed guns at them.

Thus far there has not been any identification of the group which took these journalists hostage. The fourth unidentified person however happens to be an American citizen named Mohammed Monaf (via The Jawa Report). Monaf, an Iraqi-American, served as the group’s translator and studied in Romania. A colleague of Monaf’s did recieve a phone call from the group which took the four hostages relaying the following.

One of his business partners in Romania, Ommar Hayssam, told Realitatea TV that he received two calls from the kidnappers Tuesday morning.
“There was a voice speaking in Iraqi dialect … he asked if I know Mohammed,” he said. “They say to pay … and threatened that if we come with the army they will cut their throats.” He declined to specify the amount of money demanded by the kidnappers.

We see the nature of this threat to the journalists and their translator in one phrase, “They say to pay.” On the surface this seems to be yet another ransom demand for hostages, although one that some countries decide to pay out all too often.