SENIOR UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL SEIZED IN WEST BEIRUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200118-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 118
• Publication Date: April 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200118-1
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BALTIMORE SUN
19 April 1985
Senior university official seized
in West Beirut
From Wire Reports
BEIRUT, Lebanon -Gunmen
kidnapped a senior official of the
American University of Beirut early
yesterday, the university said.
George Sayegh, acting,vice presi-
dent for administration at the cam-
pus, was taken from his apartment
in mainly Muslim West Beirut short-
ly after midnight, the university said
in a statement.
The statement said Mr. Sayegh,
the latest victim in a string of kid-
nappings, had heart trouble and re-
quired special medicine.
The abduction occurred as care-
, taker Prime Minister Rashid Karami
~ traveled to Syria for talks with Presi-
f dent Hafez e1 Assad on Lebanon's la-'
test political crisis.
I ~, g~~ and his "national.
~ty'? government r?essigned
Wednesday after a night of fighting
~, left 36 dead and Shiite guerrillas and- '
their allies in control of West Beirtit.
~ 'Before he flew to Damascus in a
Lebanese army helicopter, Mr. Kara-
' mi attended a meeting of former Leb-
anese prime ministers. In a state-
anent later, he said that what had
happened in West Beirut was intoler-
i able
Beirut newspapers. meanwhile,
published an open letter from the
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, an urrsuc-
cessful candidate for the U.S. Demo--
cratic presidential nomination last
year, calling for -the release of flue
American hostages as a step toward
clearing the way for an international
Mideast peace conference involving
Lebanon.
The missing Americans are Peter
I{llburn, a librarian at the American
University of Beirut: diplomat Wil-
liam Buckley; the Rev. Benjamin
Weir, a Presbyterian: the Rev. Law-
rence Jenco, a Catholic priest, and
journalist Terry Anderson, all seized
in West Beirut over the past 13
months.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200118-1