Breaking Genevea: no hostage taking
United States soldiers have kidnapped several women to “convince” their relatives to give themselves up, says the Guardian:
US soldiers seized a mother and daughter from their home in Baghdad two weeks ago and allegedly left a note on the gate: “Be a man Muhammad Mukhlif and give yourself up and then we will release your sisters. Otherwise they will spend a long time in detention.”
It was signed Bandit 6, apparently a military code, and gave a mobile phone number. When phoned by reporters an American soldier answered but he declined to take questions and hung up.
Salima al-Batawi, 60, and her daughter Aliya, 35, were blindfolded, handcuffed and driven away in a Humvee convoy on April 2, leaving the Arab Sunnis of Taji, a suburb north of the capital, incandescent.
Instead of surrendering, her three sons, Ahmad, Saddam and Arkan, alerted the media. None of them are called Muhammad, but it is believed that the note referred to Ahmad and that the Americans wanted all three brothers.
Found via Today in Iraq
Article 34 of the Fourth Geneva Protocal:
The taking of hostages is prohibited.