Abducted Lebanese priest released

A parish priest of Saydet el Maaonat (Lady of Aid Church), in Baalbek, father Walid Gharios, was released Monday night, several hours after his abduction at the crossroads of Ansar town, at the road leading to Baalbek. He was handed over to a member of Hezbollah's Shura Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek. Security reports have indicated that the kidnapping took place Monday afternoon by unknown assailants riding a Grand Cherokee, who intercepted Father Gharios’ car and kidnapped him, dropping him off at an unknown destination and leaving his car behind. As soon as the news was circulated, investigations were launched to find out the identity of the kidnappers before the circumstances of the incident were clarrified, and the the identity of the kidnapped father was known. Security forces worked on hunting down the kidnappers after the discovery of certain clues. Preliminary information showed that the cause of the abduction, was due to the fact that Father Gharios had earlier baptised a Muslim girl after she left her parents' house. The pastor of a Maronite monastery in Baalbek, Bishop Semaan Atallah, asserted in a statement, that the kidnapping was due to the father's  lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of the girl. Bishop Atallah said that the girl was exposed to physical and psychological torture by her father because she embraced Christianity three years ago, though she was a 24-year-old adult at the time. The Bishop added: "I ??have heard uncertain news that in recent days her father tried to force her to marry as a method of pressure, but she ran away to an unknown destination." Revealing all data associated with the foregoing abduction, he said: "last Wednesday, a fire broke out in al-Khoury’s house in Nbha town, by an unknown source. This was reiterated on Sunday, where before municipal elections could start, a church in Nbha was attacked by unknown assailants. We had extensive contact with the concerned authorities in the region to settle the situation".