BEIJING, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- China has said the eight hostages released in Iraq will face penalties on their return home as part of a crackdown on illegal workers, The Australian reported.
The men, kidnapped a week ago, had been freed after China agreed to stop sending its citizens to Iraq, Al-Arabiya television reported. The Chinese embassy in Iraq confirmed the release of the hostages but said it had not yet established still contact, the Chinese news agency Xinhua said.
The Iraqi militants who carried out the abduction said they had decided to release the hostages after the Chinese Government "showed its good intentions with the publication of a presidential decree banning Chinese citizens from entering Iraq."
Al-Arabiya television showed a videotape from the militants with the men standing or kneeling in two rows in the desert, holding up their passports and shaking hands with a masked man.
