Omar Hayssam

Omar Hayssam (, born January 3, 1963) is a Syrian later naturalized Romanian financier who was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison after a Romanian court found him guilty of masterminding the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005.

Kidnapping

In the kidnapping incident, Prima TV reporter Marie Jeanne Ion, cameraman Sorin Mişcoci, and Ovidiu Ohanesian, a journalist working for the newspaper România Liberă, were abducted on March 28, 2005 in Baghdad, where they were covering the Iraq War. According to reports, the group of kidnappers included Mahmoud Khaled Al-Omar, Abdel Jabbar Abbas Jasem Al-Samani, Ibrahim Yassin Kaathem Al-Jabouri, Omar Jassam Muhammad Ali Al-Salmani, and Yussef Munaf Muhammad Amin Al-Amin (the brother of Mohammad Munaf). On April 1, the kidnappers transferred the three journalists to the Mouadh Ibn Jabal Brigade, who locked them in the same cellar where Florence Aubenas, Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, and five other hostages were held. Romanian media speculated that Hayssam had hoped prosecutors would drop the organized crime charges when he presented himself as a go-between. He would then unblock his bank accounts, which had been frozen as part of the financial investigation, pay a fictitious ransom, and become a "national hero" when the hostages were released.

Disappearance Hayssam disappeared from Romania in 2006 after a local court let him leave a prison hospital to recover at home, following surgery for colon cancer. It has been speculated that he left on July 12, 2006 from the Black Sea port of Midia, aboard a freight boat transporting young rams to the Middle East. His escape triggered the resignation of the chief prosecutor and the heads of Romanian secret services in July 2006.

Capture Omar Hayssam was captured by the Romanian special forces and handed over to the Police on July 19, 2013. He was immediately incarcerated at the Jilava Penitentiary to serve a 20 years sentence. He is currently awaiting other pending trials and civil suits. In the same case, Mohamad Omar, Hayssam’s brother, was sentenced to 22 years in prison, and Mihai Nasture, Hayssam’s brother-in-law, remained with a sentence of three years and four months.