Giant pictures of the pair decorated Paris walls. (AFP)

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, December 22 (IslamOnline.net) – As jubilation swept France Wednesday, December 22, after the release of the two French journalists held hostage for four months in Iraq, French media highlighted the great role played the Muslim community and leading scholars across the Arab and Muslim worlds for brining a smile to French faces.

A plethora of newspapers of different leanings gave prominence for the pivotal role played by the leaders of the sizable Muslim community in France in helping release Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.

They thanked in particular Lhaj Thami Breze, the president of the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), and Dalil Boubakeur, chairman of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), for their September visit to Iraq and their heartfelt feelings for their fellow citizens.

Liberation daily wrote that the efforts of the French diplomacy paid off, thanks to the full backing of the Muslim community and Islamic movements in the Middle East, chiefly Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Le Figaro, for its part, called the Muslim role “decisive” in releasing the two reporters, saying it was indeed grateful to Muslims for their painstaking efforts.

“All Muslims, radical or moderate, spoke with one voice to resolve this crisis,” said the paper.

Other newspapers ran headlines reading “Free!” and “Finally!”, while giant pictures of the pair that had been hung up outside the City Hall in Paris for most of their detention were taken down.

French Muslims Proud

In Paris, Boubakeur expressed the great pride and joy French Muslims feel over the release of their two fellow citizens and the role they (French Muslims) played in the ordeal.

“The decisive and swift stance taken by the entire French Muslim community from the very last minute they were kidnapped helped a great deal in bringing a happy end to such a tragic incident,” he told IOL.

Lhaj Thami Breze agreed with Boubakeur on the fact that “the strong collective stand by French Muslims helped a great deal in releasing the pair”.

Secretary General of the “Movement for Combating Racism and Enhancing Friendship among Peoples”, Mawloud Awni, on his part, told IOL that the release of the two hostages came as “a victory for national unity on political and ethnic levels, against terrorism”.

Huge Gains

According to observers, the French Muslim community has scored big gains, on various levels, out of the hostage ordeal.

The community imposed itself explicitly as a sizeable national chunk that makes part and parcel of the French society. That was manifested, as per observers, in the swift rejection of kidnapping the hostages, even though the kidnappers claimed it was done to pressure the French government to reverse the controversial hijab ban.

The stand of hijab-clad girls and women, their appearance with the French Minister of Interiors, and their strong messages calling for the immediate release of their fellow citizens, rejecting bargaining over the issue, sent a very strong message across the French society.

Observers also noted that the stance of French Muslims made a powerful counterattack on campaigns aiming to criminalize Islam and Muslims, in general.

Flying Home

As jubilation was overwhelming France, on all levels, a plane carrying the two journalists was headed to Paris Wednesday after a stop-off in Cyprus.

The pair were being accompanied by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier after being flown in to Paphos airport on the southwest of the eastern Mediterranean island from Baghdad.

France had announced Tuesday that the two had been freed almost four months to the day after they were seized on a road south of Baghdad August 20 by a group calling itself the “Islamic Army in Iraq”.

The Iraqi group said it released them because of France's stand against the US-led invasion of Iraq and their own support for Palestinian statehood, according to a statement given to Al-Jazeera television.

It had also been proved that they were not spying for US forces in Iraq, it added.

Happy Christmas

Relatives of the freed hostages were ecstatic. “The nightmare is over, we are going to be able to resume a normal life,” Malbrunot's 70-year-old mother, Andree, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) at her home in central France.

“We're going to have a happy Christmas.”

Chesnot, 37, a freelancer who was working for Radio France Internationale, and Malbrunot, 41, filing for leading French daily Le Figaro, were kidnapped south of Baghdad on August 20, together with their Syrian driver, by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

No Ransom

On television, Chirac said the release was thanks to “the mobilization and solidarity of all the French”.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin told political leaders Wednesday that his government did not pay a ransom for the journalists.

Nicole Borvo, the leader of the French Communist Party in the Senate, told reporters that Raffarin had insisted at the meeting that there was “neither a demand nor a payment” of any ransom.

“He was very clear,” she added. “We can consider this to be the word of the prime minister.”

On television, Chirac said the release was thanks to “the mobilization and solidarity of all the French, to whom I want to pay homage.”

The president, who has cut short a Moroccan holiday to return to greet the pair, also credited their freedom to “the responsible and tenacious action of the government and all the services which mobilized with determination and efficiency.”

The Muslim community in France vigorously condemned the kidnappings in August, saying it was “shattered” by the extremists’ “unworthy and odious blackmail”.

Leading Muslim groups and governments worldwide added their voice to the French Muslims and called for the immediate release of the pair.