A visiting Iranian official contacted the kidnappers of two German hostages and urged them to free their captives before the end of this year, the Muslim-operated "Voice of the Homeland" radio station said Saturday.
Atallah Mohajerani, deputy president for parliamentarian and legal affairs, who arrived in Beirut Wednesday, asked the Shiite Hamadi family to "speed up the release of the two Germans before the end of this year in accordance to pledges made by Tehran to the German Government," the radio quoted Iranian sources in Tehran as saying.The Hamadi family is believed to have kidnapped Thomas Kemptner and Henrich Struebig to secure the release of two of its members, Mohammed Ali and Abbas Hamadi, convicted and imprisoned in Germany on terrorist charges.