The father of Irish journalist Rory Carroll said today he hoped his son would be home this weekend after his kidnap ordeal in Iraq.
Mr Carroll (33) was freed yesterday after being held for 36 hours by unknown attackers who snatched him from a Baghdad suburb on Wednesday.
The Dublin-born journalist for the Guardiannewspaper was leaving the house of a Shia Muslim family where he had been watching the televised trial of Saddam Hussein when he was abducted.
Joe Carroll
Mr Carroll snr, a former Irish Timesjournalist, said this morning he heard his son had been released at around 8pm last night. He said he, his wife Kathy and daughter Karina, expected Rory to return to the family home in Blackrock, Co Dublin, some time this weekend.
"We haven't been able to talk to him since that call but I think it must be fairly soon, hopefully by the weekend.
"I thought first when he was calling that maybe his captors were allowing him to make one call from his cell or something," he told RTÉ radio. "He didn't have time to say much because he had to make other calls."
Mr Carroll was apparently kidnapped by a criminal gang that then came under pressure from the Sadr movement that controls the slum where he was abducted.
Sheikh Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric allied with Mr Ahmed Chalabi, the deputy prime minister of Iraq, is thought to have been the intermediary who negotiated Mr Carroll's release.
It is also understood that hours before Mr Carroll was released, Iran had taken the unusual move to demand his release and prayers were offered for his safe release.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last night led the Government's welcome for the release."I welcome the good news of his safe release. I am delighted for his family, friends and colleagues. I am delighted that he is free again, within 24 hours of his capture."
Minister Foreign for Affairs Dermot Ahern said "a number of friends and partners" had helped in the release. "The Government is deeply grateful to all who helped achieve this happy outcome. I am utterly delighted for Rory Carroll and his family."
Mr Ahern had ordered a delegation to Baghdad today to seek the release of Mr Carroll and preparations for their departure were under way until news of his release emerged.
Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, said: "We're overjoyed that Rory has been released safe and sound. We'd like to thank all those in London, Dublin and Iraq who played a role in freeing him.
"Both the British and Irish governments have been extremely helpful - as have many journalistic colleagues around the world and sympathetic groups and individuals in Baghdad."