Romanian President Guarantees Terror Convict Hayssam Will Do Time In Romania

"I can guarantee Omar Hayssam will end up serving his prison sentence in Romania. The country is putting in great efforts to find its biggest justice fleers," Basescu said.

Basescu said last month his 2008 visit to Syria, which he didn't comment at the time, was to negotiate amendments to Romania's extradition agreement with Syria, to make sure Hayssam, who is thought to be hiding in Syria, would be extradited to Romania when caught.

In 2007, a Romanian court found Hayssam guilty of masterminding the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005, and sentenced him in absentia to 20 years in prison.

Hayssam fled Romania while under a terrorism inquiry for his role in the kidnapping, shortly after he was paroled on medical grounds in the first half of 2006.

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