DNA proves remains found in Lebanon are of British journalist

Middle East News.Net
Monday 23rd November, 2009 (IANS)

A British forensic team in Lebanon said DNA results proved that the body found last week in eastern Lebanon is that of a British journalist kidnapped by Palestinian militants 24 years ago.

A British embassy spokeswoman in Beirut said the body belonged to Alec Collett, who was abducted in 1985.

According to the spokeswoman, the body will be transferred to London later this week.

Collett, then 64, was on assignment in Palestinian refugee camps for the UN Relief and Works Agency when he was kidnapped at gunpoint in Beirut.

The following year the Fatah Revolutionary Council (FRC), headed by the late Palestinian leader Abu Nidal, claimed to have killed him in retaliation for US air raids on Libya.

A video was released showing the hanging of a hooded figure said to be Collett but the victim was never officially identified.

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