EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - Two American tourists and their Egyptian guide who were abducted by a Bedouin in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last week were released unharmed on Monday after negotiations with security officials and tribal leaders.
Rev. Michel Louis, 61, and 39-year-old Lissa Alphonse, both Boston-area residents, had been kidnapped from a bus on Friday along with their guide, Haytham Ragab, on a Sinai road by a Bedouin who was demanding the release of his uncle, who had been detained by Egyptian police on suspicion of drug possession.
The kidnapper, Jirmy Abu-Masuh, told AP that he had handed the three over to security officials near the northern Sinai city of el-Arish on Monday after he was promised that authorities were working on his uncle's release.
"We are a people of mercy and they don't have anything to do with this," Abu-Masuh said, referring to the Americans.
In Boston's Dorchester section, where Louis lives, about 10 family members and friends celebrated the news on the porch of his home, hugging and chanting "hallelujah."
Later, Louis' children told reporters they were able to talk with their father on a satellite phone from Egypt.
The abduction illustrated a broader breakdown of security in the Sinai, a key destination in Egypt's vital tourism industry, where lawlessness has risen since last year's ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
Relations between the Bedouin and authorities have long been tumultuous, with Bedouin complaining of discrimination by the government and abuses against them by security forces.
During their captivity, the two Americans and their guide were kept at Abu-Masuh's home in the harsh mountain terrain of central Sinai, and given tea and food, including at one point a roast lamb, according to Abu-Masuh and the guide, Ragab.
"We were treated just like they treat their own," Ragab, 28, told AP by phone after their release. "But we were under emotional pressure. Life for the Bedouins is tough."
He said he and the two Americans spoke a lot with Abu-Masuh about his uncle - who Abu-Masuh says was being held because he refused to pay a bribe - and about the problems of Bedouin in general.
The two Americans, on a tour of the Holy Land, had been heading from Cairo to the 6th century St. Catherine's Monastery, located at the foot of Mount Sinai, said to be the site where Moses received the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments.