欧洲人质赎金资助基地组织

BAMAKO, Mali — The cash filled three suitcases: 5 million euros.

马里巴马科——三个手提箱里装满了500万欧元。

The German official charged with delivering this cargo arrived here aboard a nearly empty military plane and was whisked away to a secret meeting with the president of Mali, who had offered Europe a face-saving solution to a vexing problem.

负责送钱的德国官员乘坐空荡荡的军机抵达巴马科，然后匆匆奔赴与马里总统的秘密会议。在这个棘手问题上，马里总统为欧洲提供了一个保全颜面的解决方法。

Officially, Germany had budgeted the money as humanitarian aid for the poor, landlocked nation of Mali.

表面上，德国打算将这笔钱划归为人道主义援助，帮助内陆国家马里的穷人。瑞典人伊克勒保留的2003年遭绑架54天期间的物品。他在德国生活，在阿尔及利亚进行探险之旅时被圣战分子绑架。

Gordon Welters for The New York Times

瑞典人伊克勒保留的2003年遭绑架54天期间的物品。他在德国生活，在阿尔及利亚进行探险之旅时被圣战分子绑架。

In truth, all sides understood that the cash was bound for an obscure group of Islamic extremists who were holding 32 European hostages, according to six senior diplomats directly involved in the exchange.

事实上，据六名直接参与交换人质的高级外交官透露，各方都知道这些钱是给一个鲜为人知的伊斯兰极端组织的。他们控制着32名欧洲人质。

The suitcases were loaded onto pickup trucks and driven hundreds of miles north into the Sahara, where the bearded fighters, who would soon become an official arm of Al Qaeda, counted the money on a blanket thrown on the sand. The 2003 episode was a learning experience for both sides. Eleven years later, the handoff in Bamako has become a well-rehearsed ritual, one of dozens of such transactions repeated all over the world.

小货车运载着三个手提箱，向北行驶数百英里到撒哈拉沙漠。一群蓄着胡须的武装分子将毯子扔到沙地上，并在上面数钱。不久之后，他们就成了基地组织(Al Qaeda)的正式分支。2003年的事件对于双方来说都是一次学习的经历。11年后，巴马科的这种交换活动已经成了一种轻车熟路的仪式，是世界范围内上演的几十桩类似交易中的一个。

Kidnapping Europeans for ransom has become a global business for Al Qaeda, bankrolling its operations across the globe.

为了获得赎金绑架欧洲人已经成为基地组织的一项全球业务，为其在世界各地的行动提供资金。

While European governments deny paying ransoms, an investigation by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have taken in at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008, of which $66 million was paid just in the past year.

虽然欧洲国家的政府否认支付赎金，但《纽约时报》的调查发现，自2008年起，基地组织及其直属分支机构通过绑架至少获得了1.25亿美元（约合7.7亿元人民币）的收入，其中单是去年就有6600万美元进账。

In various news releases and statements, the United States Treasury Department has cited ransom amounts that, taken together, put the total at around $165 million over the same period.

将各种新闻稿和声明中美国财政部援引的数据合起来，这一时期的赎金总额约为1.65亿美元。

These payments were made almost exclusively by European governments, who funnel the money through a network of proxies, sometimes masking it as development aid, according to interviews conducted for this article with former hostages, negotiators, diplomats and government officials in 10 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The inner workings of the kidnapping business were also revealed in thousands of pages of internal Qaeda documents found by this reporter while on assignment for The Associated Press in northern Mali last year.

我们采访了来自欧洲、非洲和中东地区10个国家的前人质、谈判者、外交官及政府官员。据他们透露，这些赎金几乎都是由欧洲国家的政府通过代理人网络支付的，有时会以发展援助款项的名义进行掩饰。去年在马里北部为美联社(The Associated Press)工作时，记者找到了基地组织的内部相关文件。数千页的资料披露了绑架活动的内部运作情况。

In its early years Al Qaeda received most of its money from deep-pocketed donors, but counterterrorism officials now believe the group finances the bulk of its recruitment, training and arms purchases from ransoms paid to free Europeans.

基地组织早期接收的大部分资金来自慷慨的捐助者，但是反恐官员现在认为，该组织招募、培训成员及购买武器所需的大部分费用，如今源自释放欧洲人质获得的赎金。

Put more bluntly, Europe has become an inadvertent underwriter of Al Qaeda.

说白了，欧洲无意中成为了基地组织的资助方。

The foreign ministries of France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany denied in emails or telephone interviews that they had paid the terrorists. “The French authorities have repeatedly stated that France does not pay ransoms,” said Vincent Floreani, deputy director of communication for France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

法国、瑞士、奥地利、意大利及德国的外交部均在邮件或电话采访中否认曾付钱给恐怖分子。法国外交部负责通讯联络的副主管樊尚·弗洛雷亚尼 (Vincent Floreani)表示，“法国政府一再重申没有缴付赎金。”

Several senior diplomats involved in past negotiations have described the decision to ransom their citizens as an agonizing calculation: accede to the terrorists'demand, or allow innocent people to be killed, often in a gruesome, public way?

几名曾参与谈判的高级外交官称，以赎金来拯救公民的决定是一个极其痛苦的考量：向恐怖分子屈服，或者任由他们杀害无辜民众，而且往往是以恐怖而公开的方式。

Yet the fact that Europe and its intermediaries continue to pay has set off a vicious cycle.

然而，欧洲及其中间人持续缴纳赎金的做法引发了恶性循环。

"Kidnapping for ransom has become today's most significant source of terrorist financing," said David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a 2012 speech. "Each transaction encourages another transaction."

“通过绑架赚取赎金已经成为恐怖分子时下最主要的经费来源，”美国财政部负责反恐与金融情报的副部长戴维·S·科恩(David S. Cohen)在2012年发表讲话时说。“每一桩交易都催生了另一桩交易。”

And business is booming: While in 2003 the kidnappers received around $200,000 per hostage, now they are netting up to $10 million, money that the second in command of Al Qaeda's central leadership recently described as accounting for as much as half of his operating revenue.

这项业务正在迅速发展：2003年，绑匪从每名人质身上赚取约20万美元，现在的要价则可高达1000万美元。基地组织核心领导层的二把手最近表示，赎金收入占了运营进项的一半。

"Kidnapping hostages is an easy spoil," wrote Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, "which I may describe as a profitable trade and a precious treasure."

“绑架人质很容易得到奖赏，”阿拉伯半岛基地组织(Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula)的头目纳赛尔·乌海什(Nasser al-Wuhayshi)写道。“我得说这是笔利润可观的生意，也是珍贵的宝藏。”

The stream of income generated is so significant that internal documents show that as long as five years ago, Al Qaeda's central command in Pakistan was overseeing negotiations for hostages grabbed as far afield as Africa. Moreover, the accounts of survivors held thousands of miles apart show that the three main affiliates of the terrorist group — Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in northern Africa; Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen; and the Shabab, in Somalia — are coordinating their efforts, and abiding by a common kidnapping protocol.

收入源源不断，规模惊人，内部文件显示，早在五年前，基地组织设在巴基斯坦的中央指挥部就在人质的谈判工作上发号施令，涉及的人质最远在非洲遭到绑架。此外，根据关押地相隔数千英里的不同幸存者的描述，该恐怖组织的三大分支——位于北非的伊斯兰马格里布基地组织(Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)、位于也门的阿拉伯半岛基地组织以及位于索马里的青年党(Shabab)——共同合作，遵守通用的绑架协议。

To minimize the risk to their fighters, the terror affiliates have outsourced the seizing of hostages to criminal groups who work on commission. Negotiators take a reported 10 percent of the ransom, creating an incentive on both sides of the Mediterranean to increase the overall payout, according to former hostages and senior counterterrorism officials.

为了将武装分子面临的风险降至最低，这几家恐怖主义分支机构把绑票的任务外包给犯罪集团，后者抽取佣金。曾被绑架的人士和高级反恐官员透露，谈判者据称会抽取10%的赎金。这样，地中海两边均有动力来增加整体金额。

Their business plan includes a step-by-step process for negotiating, starting with long periods of silence aimed at creating panic back home. Hostages are then shown on videos begging their government to negotiate.

他们的绑架计划包括循序渐进的谈判过程，首先要长时间保持沉默，以便在相关国家引发恐慌，然后公布人质恳求本国政府谈判的录像。

Although the kidnappers threaten to kill their victims, a review of the known cases revealed that only a small percentage of hostages held by Qaeda's affiliates have been executed in the past five years, a marked turnaround from a decade ago, when videos showing beheadings of foreigners held by the group's franchise in Iraq would regularly turn up online. Now the group has realized it can advance the cause of jihad by keeping hostages alive and trading them for prisoners and suitcases of cash.
虽然绑匪威胁要杀死人质，但本报查看已知案例后发现，在过去五年中，只有少数被基地组织分支机构挟持的人质遭处决。比起10年前的情况，这是一种明显的转变。那时候，基地组织在伊拉克的分支机构对外国人质实施斩首的录像会经常出现在网上。如今，该组织意识到，他们可以留住人质的活口，用他们交换囚犯和赎金，以此推动圣战事业的发展。
Only a handful of countries have resisted paying, led by the United States and Britain. Although both these countries have negotiated with extremist groups — evidenced most recently by the United States' trade of Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — they have drawn the line when it comes to ransoms.
只有以美国和英国为首的少数国家拒绝缴付赎金。虽然这两个国家都曾与极端组织谈判——美国最近用多名塔利班囚犯交换鲍·贝里达尔中士(Bowe Bergdahl)的做法证实了这一点——但在赎金这一点上，他们划清了底线。
It is a decision that has had dire consequences. While dozens of Europeans have been released unharmed, few American or British nationals have gotten out alive. A lucky few ran away, or were rescued by special forces. The rest were executed or are being held indefinitely.
这个决定带来了严重后果。数十名欧洲人安然无恙地获释，却很少有美国人或英国人能活着回来。少数人幸运地逃脱，或被特种部队拯救。剩下的不是被处决，就是遭到无限期关押。
"The Europeans have a lot to answer for," said Vicki Huddleston, the former United States deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, who was the ambassador to Mali in 2003 when Germany paid the first ransom. "It's a completely two-faced policy. They pay ransoms, and then deny any was paid," she said. "The danger of this is not just that it grows the terrorist movement, but it makes all of our citizens vulnerable."
薇姬·赫德尔斯顿(Vicki Huddleston)曾担任副助理国防部长，负责非洲事务。2003年德国缴付第一笔赎金的时候，她是美国驻马里大使。“欧洲人需要解释的事情有很多，”她说。“这完全是一种两面派的政策。他们缴付赎金，但又不承认。这样做不单助长了恐怖活动，也让我们的所有民众都处于危险境况。”
'Not Just Normal Criminals'
“绝非普通罪犯”
The exploits of the band of fighters in the Sahara did not go unnoticed.
撒哈拉沙漠中那群武装分子的所作所为并未消逝在风中。
A year later, in 2004, a Qaeda operative, Abdelaziz al-Muqrin, published a how-to guide to kidnapping, in which he highlighted the successful ransom negotiation of "our brothers in Algeria." Yet at the same time, he also praised the execution of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was grabbed in Pakistan in 2002 and beheaded nine days later by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a senior Qaeda member believed to be one of the architects of the Sept. 11 attacks.
一年后，也就是在2004年，一个名为阿卜杜勒阿齐兹·穆格林(Abdelaziz al-Muqrin)的基地组织行动人员发布了一份绑架指南，其中突出强调了“我们在阿尔及利亚的兄弟”成功完成的这笔赎金谈判交易。不过与此同时，他还对处决《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)记者丹尼尔‧珀尔(Daniel Pearl)一事表示称赞。珀尔于2002年在巴基斯坦被捉拿，九天后遭基地组织高层哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德(Khalid Shaikh Mohammed)斩首。据信，穆罕默德是9·11恐怖袭击的主谋之一。
Within a few years, there was a split within Al Qaeda, with the group's affiliate in Iraq grabbing foreigners specifically to kill them.
几年之内，基地组织内部发生路线分歧，位于伊拉克的分支机构专门抓外国人并加以杀害。
In Algeria, the kidnappers of the European tourists followed a different path.
在阿尔及利亚，绑架欧洲游客的人选择了一条不同的道路。
They used the 5 million euros as the seed money for their movement, recruiting and training fighters who staged a series of devastating attacks. They grew into a regional force and were accepted as an official branch of the Qaeda network, which baptized them Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. As kidnapping revenue became their main lifeline, they honed and perfected the process.
他们将500万欧元作为自身开展运动的本钱，招募并训练武装分子，让他们实施了一系列致命袭击。他们发展成为一股地区势力，并获得认可，成为基地组织的正式分支机构，自称“伊斯兰马格里布基地组织”。随着绑架收入成为他们的经济命脉，他们调整并完善了流程。
By Feb. 2, 2011, when their lookouts in southern Algeria spotted a 53-year-old Italian tourist, Mariasandra Mariani, admiring the rolling dunes through a pair of binoculars, they were running a sleek operation.
2011年2月2日，该组织在阿尔及利亚南部的眼线盯上了53岁的意大利游客马里亚桑德拉‧马里亚尼(Mariasandra Mariani)。她当时正举着双筒望远镜欣赏起伏的沙丘。他们干净利落地开展了行动。
Her tour guide was the first to spot them, and screamed at her to run. As their cars sped toward her, she sprinted to her nearby desert bungalow and locked herself inside. She could do nothing but sit frozen on the mattress as they broke down the door. They threw her in a waiting car, handcuffing her to the dashboard. Before they sped off, they made sure to place a rolled up blanket next to her, so that the jihadist sitting next to her would not accidentally make contact with a woman.
马里亚尼的导游首先发现了他们，并对她大喊，让她快跑。当他们的车快速驶向马里亚尼时，她冲到附近的沙漠小屋中并把自己反锁在内。当绑匪破门而入时，她无能为力，只是呆坐在床垫上。绑匪将她塞入正在门外等候的汽车里，把她铐在仪表台上。在一溜烟开走之前，他们特意在她身旁放了一个卷着的毯子，避免坐在旁边的圣战分子不小心碰到她。
"Who are you?" she asked them.
“你们是谁？” 马里亚尼问他们。
"We are Al Qaeda," they replied.
“我们是基地组织，”他们回答。
If previous kidnapping missions did not seem to have a thought-out plan, the gunmen who seized Ms. Mariani drove for days on what appeared to be a clearly delineated route. Whenever they were low on fuel, they would make their way to a spot that to her looked no different in the otherwise identical lunar landscape.
尽管之前的绑架任务貌似没有周详的计划，但绑架马里亚尼的持枪歹徒沿着显然是经过策划的路线行驶了几天。每当燃油不足的时候，绑匪都能到达一个特定地点，但在马里亚尼看来，那里的周边环境无异于月球。
Under a thorn bush, they would find a drum full of gasoline. Or a stack of tires to replace a punctured one. They never ran out of food.
他们会在荆棘丛下找到一桶满满的汽油，或是一堆轮胎来替换被扎破的那个，从来不缺吃的东西。
Ms. Mariani would later learn they had an infrastructure of supplies buried in the sand and marked with GPS coordinates.
马里亚尼后来得知，他们将各种物资埋在沙里，并用GPS坐标作标记。
One afternoon they stopped just above the lip of a dune. The fighters got down and unfastened a shovel. Then she heard the sound of a car engine. Suddenly a pickup truck roared out. They had buried an entire vehicle in the mountain of sand.
一天下午，他们在一座山丘边停了下来。武装分子下了车，并卸下了铲子。然后，她听到了车子引擎发出的声音。突然之间，一辆小货车呼啸而出，原来他们把整辆货车都埋在沙丘之下。
"It was then that I realized, these aren't just normal criminals," said Ms. Mariani.

“就在那一瞬间，我意识到他们绝不是一般的罪犯，”马里亚尼说。

Qaeda Oversight
基地组织发号施令
The bulk of the kidnappings-for-ransom carried out in Al Qaeda's name have occurred in Africa, and more recently in Yemen and Syria. These regions are thousands of miles from the terror network's central command in Pakistan. Yet audio messages released by the group, as well as confidential letters between commanders, indicate the organization's senior leaders are directly involved in the negotiations.
非洲发生了一连串以赎金为目的的绑架事件，全都以基地组织的名义进行。最近，也门和叙利亚也出现绑架事件。这些地区距离恐怖组织位于巴基斯坦的指挥中心有数千英里之遥。但组织发布的音频讯息，以及指挥官之间的秘密通函，说明该组织的高级头目直接参与了谈判。
As early as 2008, a commander holding two Canadian diplomats angered his leaders by negotiating a ransom on his own. In a letter discovered by this reporter while on assignment for The A.P. in Mali last year, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb blamed the commander, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, for securing only the ""meager sum" of euros700,000 — around $1 million — saying the low amount was a result of his unwillingness to follow the instructions of their leadership in Pakistan.
早在2008年，一名挟持了两名加拿大外交官的指挥官，因擅自洽议赎金而激怒上级。记者去年为美联社在马里工作时发现的信件显示，伊斯兰马格里布基地组织指责这名指挥官——穆赫塔尔·贝尔穆赫塔尔(Mokhtar Belmokhtar)——只拿到“区区”70万欧元（约合550万元人民币），并称拿得少是因为他不愿听从巴基斯坦领导层的指示。
In his last broadcast before his death in 2011, Osama bin Laden spoke at length about the case of four French citizens held by Al Qaeda in Mali, making clear that he was keeping close tabs on individual kidnappings.
2011年，奥萨玛·本·拉登(Osama bin Laden)在死前的最后一次广播之中，大谈基地组织在马里挟持四名法国公民的事件，明确表示他在密切关注绑架个案。
Hostages held as recently as last year in Yemen say it was clear the negotiations were being handled by a distant leadership.
去年在也门被劫持的人质表示，谈判很明显都是由远方的头目操控的。
Atte and Leila Kaleva, a Finnish couple held for five months by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in 2013, deduced this from the voluminous correspondence they saw being delivered to their captors.
2013年，芬兰夫妇阿特和蕾拉‧卡莱瓦(Atte and Leila Kaleva)被阿拉伯半岛基地组织挟持了五个月。他们看到绑匪进行了大量通讯，由此得出上述结论。
"There were lots of letters back and forth," said Mr. Kaleva. "It was clear that they had a hierarchy, and they were consulting their leaders about what to do with us."
“当时有很多书信来往，”卡莱瓦先生说。“很明显，他们是有一个等级制度的，绑匪在请示领导如何处置我们。”
A Valuable Commodity
有价值的商品
In the dozens of kidnappings that Al Qaeda has carried out, the threat of execution has hung over each hostage, reinforced in videos showing the victim next to armed and menacing jihadist guards. In fact, only a minority of hostages — just 15 percent, according to an analysis by The Times — have been executed or have died since 2008, several of them in botched rescue operations.
在由基地组织实施的数十起绑架案里，每一个人质都曾面临被处决的危险。视频显示受害者身旁都会有一些携带武器的气势汹汹的圣战人员，愈发加剧了这种危险。事实上，根据时报的分析，自2008以来，只有少数人质（约15%）遭处决或死亡，其中几人死于失败的拯救行动。
The potential income hostages represent has made them too valuable to the movement. In a 2012 letter to his fellow jihadists in Africa, the man who was once Bin Laden's personal secretary and who is now the second in command of Al Qaeda, wrote that at least half of his budget in Yemen was funded by ransoms. "Thanks to Allah, most of the battle costs, if not all, were paid from through the spoils," wrote Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "Almost half the spoils came from hostages."
人质所代表的潜在收入使他们在活动中变得很有价值。2012年，一名曾经担任本·拉登私人秘书的男子给非洲的圣战分子写信称，他们在也门活动的预算中至少有一半来自赎金。该男子现在是基地组织的二号头目。“感谢真主，即使并非全部，但大部分战斗的成本都是通过战利品支付的，”阿拉伯半岛基地组织头目纳赛尔·乌海什写道。“几乎一半的战利品是通过人质获得的赎金。”
Mr. Kaleva realized his captors did not intend to kill him when he became ill with what he feared was a giardia infection, and his worried kidnappers immediately brought him medicine.
卡莱瓦先生是在生病后意识到绑匪没有杀害他的意图的。当时他担心自己感染了贾第虫病，忧心忡忡的绑匪立即拿了药给他。
When Ms. Mariani fell ill from violent dysentery in the burning sands of the Malian desert, a jihadist doctor hooked her up to an IV, nursing her back to health.
当卡莱瓦女士在马里沙漠炙热的沙地中患上严重痢疾时，圣战组织的一名医生为她进行静脉注射，并将她医治好了。
Elsewhere in the Sahara, the jihadists trucked in specialized medication for a 62-year-old Frenchwoman who had breast cancer.
在撒哈拉的另一处地方，圣战分子为一名62岁身患乳腺癌的法国女性运来了专用药物。
"It was clear to us," said Mr. Kaleva, “that we are more valuable to them alive than dead.”
“我们都很清楚，”卡莱瓦先生说，“对他们来说，我们活着比死了更有价值。”
Europe's Outsize Role
欧洲的巨大作用
Negotiators believe that the Qaeda branches have now determined which governments pay.
谈判者认为，基地组织各大分支已经认准了哪些政府会缴付赎金。
Of the 53 hostages known to have been taken by Qaeda's official branches in the past five years, a third were French. And small nations like Austria, Switzerland and Spain, which do not have large expatriate communities in the countries where the kidnappings occur, account for over 20 percent of the victims.
在过去五年中，确定有53人被基地组织的官方分支绑架，其中三分之一是法国人。有超过两成的受害人来自奥地利、瑞士和西班牙等小国。在常有绑架案发生的国家里，这些小国的外派人员较少。
By contrast, only three Americans are known to have been kidnapped by Al Qaeda or its direct affiliates, representing just 5 percent of the total.
相比之下，目前已知的被基地组织或其直属分支绑架的美国公民只有三人，在总体中占5%。
"For me, it's obvious that Al Qaeda is targeting them by nationality," said Jean-Paul Rouiller, the director of the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, who helped set up Switzerland's counterterrorism program. "Hostages are an investment, and you are not going to invest unless you are pretty sure of a payout."
“我觉得，基地组织明显是按国籍来锁定目标的，”日内瓦恐怖主义训练分析中心(Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism)主管让-保罗·鲁耶(Jean-Paul Rouiller)说。“人质是种投资，如果你不确定会有回报，你不会进行投资。”鲁耶帮助创建了瑞士反恐项目。
Mr. Cohen, the United States under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said information gathered by the Department of Treasury suggested that Al Qaeda may no longer want to kidnap Americans, a tectonic shift from a decade ago.
美国财政部负责反恐与金融情报的副部长科恩表示，财政部搜集的信息显示，基地组织或许不再想绑架美国人。与10年前相比，这是一个巨大的改变。
"We know that hostage takers looking for ransoms distinguish between those governments that pay ransoms and those that do not — and make a point of not taking hostages from those countries that do not pay," he said in a 2012 speech to the Chatham House think tank in London. "And recent kidnapping-for-ransom trends appear to indicate that hostage takers prefer not to take U.S. or U.K. hostages, almost certainly because they understand that they will not receive ransoms."
“我们知道，想要获得赎金的绑匪将缴付赎金与不缴付赎金的政府区分开来，并强调不要绑架那些来自不缴付赎金的国家的人质，” 科恩2012年在智库伦敦皇家国际事务研究所(Chatham House)发表演讲时说。“最近这股绑架索财的趋势似乎说明，绑匪不愿绑架美国人或英国人。这几乎是可以肯定的，因为他们知道他们不会拿到赎金。”
Western countries have signed numerous agreements calling for an end to ransom paying, including as recently as last year at a G8 summit, where some of the biggest ransom payers in Europe signed a declaration agreeing to stamp out the practice. Yet according to hostages released this year and veteran negotiators, governments in Europe — especially France, Spain and Switzerland — continue to be responsible for some of the largest payments, including a ransom of euros30 million —about $40 million — paid last fall to free four Frenchmen held in Mali.
西方国家签署了数份协议，呼吁停止交付赎金，当中包括最近一次于去年举行的八国峰会。一些支付最高赎金的欧洲国家在此次峰会期间签署声明，同意杜绝此等行为。但据今年获释的人质及经验丰富的谈判专家透露，欧洲国家的政府——尤其是法国、西班牙和瑞士——还是支付了高额赎金，比如法国在去年秋天支付3000万欧元的赎金，解救四名被关押在马里的法国人。
The money is written off by European governments as an aid payment, or else delivered through intermediaries, like French nuclear giant Areva, a state-controlled company that a senior negotiator said paid euros12.5 million in 2011 and euros30 million in 2013 to free five French citizens. (A spokesman for Areva denied in an email that a ransom had been paid.)
这笔钱被这些欧洲国家的政府以援助金的名义勾销，要不然就是通过中间人来转送，比如法国核能巨头阿海珐(Areva)。一名高级谈判人员表示，这家国有企业在2011年和2013年分别付了1250万欧元和3000万欧元，解救五名法国人质。（阿海珐的发言人在电邮中否认该公司曾缴付赎金。）
In Yemen, the intermediaries are Qatar and Oman, who pay the ransoms on behalf of European governments, including more than $20 million for two groups of hostages released in the past year, according to European and Yemeni officials.
据欧洲和也门官员透露，在也门，卡塔尔和阿曼担任中间人，替欧洲国家的政府支付赎金。为了解救两组人质，这些政府去年支付了逾2000万美元的赎金。
Almost a year into her captivity in 2012, Mariasandra Mariani thought she could not take it anymore. Her captors were holding her in a landscape of black granite in northern Mali, which amplified the suffocating heat. When the wind blew, it felt as if someone were holding a blow dryer inches from her skin. She spent all day next to a bucket of water, sponging herself to try to keep cool.
2012年，也就是被关押将近一年的时候，马里亚桑德拉·马里亚尼觉得自己再也无法忍受了。绑匪将她关在马里北部布满黑花岗石的地方，这更加剧了酷暑难耐的感觉。风吹过的时候，感觉就像是有人拿着吹风机对着她的皮肤吹。她整天都待在水桶旁，用湿布擦拭自己，以保持凉爽。
She told her guard that her modest family, which grows olives in the hills above Florence, did not have the money, and that her government refused to pay ransoms. Her captor reassured her.
马里亚尼告诉看守，她家是在佛罗伦萨的山上种植橄榄树的，他们没钱，政府拒绝缴付赎金。绑架她的人打消了她在这方面的担忧。
"Your governments always say they don't pay," he told Ms. Mariani. "When you go back, I want you to tell your people that your government does pay. They always pay."
“你们的政府总是说不交赎金，”他对马里亚尼说。“你回国之后，我要你告诉你们的人民，你们的政府会付钱的，他们每次都会付赎金。”