Roundup: Two freed hostages in Syria back to Italy amid joy, controversy

The two Italian hostages kept in Syria since last July, two girls aged 20 and 21, landed in Rome early on Friday, amid joy but also controversy for the huge ransom that media reports suggested the Italian government paid to have them freed.

Greta Ramelli and Vanessa Marzullo recently appeared wearing long dark tunics in a video, five months after they were kidnapped near the northern city of Aleppo on July 31. The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the abduction of the two students, who had gone to Syria to work in humanitarian aid projects related to a small non-profit organization.

The pair was welcomed at the Ciampino airport by Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and by their families and friends, who drove down from Lombardy, the region in northern Italy where they live.

Questioned by prosecutors later in the day, Ramelli and Marzullo said they went through a very difficult time but were no victims of violence or abuse, according to ANSA news agency.

But polemic mounted in the political world while debate was heated in the local press after media reports suggested the Italian government paid as much as 12 million U.S. dollars to have the girls back.

According to scenarios depicted by intelligence sources, the two hostages were handed over several times before ending in the hands of the Nusra Front.

"In the video, the girls were calling for help saying they were in peril of life. This was the move aimed at raising the bets compared to the 2 million U.S. dollars ransom previously asked," Corriere della Sera, the widest circulation newspaper in Italy, wrote.

The video, the newspaper added, was "a sign that negotiations could enter the final phase."

According to La Stampa, a newspaper based in northern Italy and renowned for its accurate reports on foreign policy, the Italian government "did the right and proper thing" by bringing Ramelli and Marzullo back home.

"Not abandoning someone in the hands of enemies makes a nation stronger, more cohesive and able to defend itself," the newspaper wrote.

However, La Stampa also highlighted the need for prudence.

"The lesson that must be learnt from this release is the necessity to avoid finding in similar situations," the newspaper observed.

The behavior of the two girls, who Gentiloni said had not informed Italian authorities about their planned trip to Syria, especially angered the opposition right-wing party Northern League.

"Their release has filled me with joy, but if a ransom has been paid which would allow terrorists to kill other people, this would be a shame for Italy," Northern League's head Matteo Salvini commented.

Gentiloni stopped short of an explicit denial that money had changed hands before the release of the two girls, though ruling out as "conjectures" emanating from terrorist organizations the suggestions that Italy has paid a 12-million-U.S. dollar ransom.

The center-left government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi handled the issue "in line with international practice and like previous governments," Gentiloni went on to say in a briefing to parliament.

Italy was "against paying ransom" to free hostages, he said, adding, however, that the priority was "always the protection of the lives and physical integrity of citizens."

In recent years, various Italian hostages abducted in troubled Middle Eastern and African countries have been freed by the Italian government. Two people, aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto who disappeared in Pakistan in 2012 and Jesuit priest Paolo Dall'Oglio who was kidnapped in Syria in 2013, are still waiting to be freed. Endit