Taj El-Din Hilaly/Archive1 - Negotiation To Free Abducted Australian Douglas Wood

Negotiation To Free Abducted Australian Douglas Wood

In May 2005 Australian contractor Douglas Wood was abducted by a militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahideen of Iraq. They demanded that the Australian government withdraw its troops from Iraq in exchange for Wood. Twice that month, Hilaly traveled to Iraq to negotiate Wood's release, the second time interrupting treatment for a heart condition and returning, at the explicit request of the Australian government, "to Baghdad to deliver an extraordinary offer to Mr Wood's captors, on their behalf." Hilaly said later, "There was a point where the abductors wanted $25 million. Eventually, we managed to convince them to drop this demand and a figure, in the thousands, was agreed." Hilaly also claimed to have spoken to Douglas Wood via telephone, yet after Douglas Wood was rescued following a raid by the Iraqi army, Wood denied ever having spoken to Hilaly.