French journalist held hostage in Iraq freed

June 12, 2005

The French foreign affairs department has announced that the French journalist Florence Aubenas (working on behalf of Libération) and her guide Hussein Hanoun Al-Saadi have been freed this morning.

They had been held hostage in Iraq since January 5, 2005 &mdash; a total of 158 days.

French president Jacques Chirac said in a televised speech that the freed French reporter and her Iraqi driver are in "good health" and said that Aubenas is on a plane heading for France.