pages from married to a terrorist

8/3/2019 Pages From Married to a Terrorist

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MARRIED O A

ERRORISA TRuE STORy

Te desert heat swirled around as I stepped of the airplane in

Beirut. Te heat should have made me sweat, but I still couldnt

stop shivering. Rome had been colder, but that wasnt why I elt

so cold. No, I was here to get my children back rom their ather

whod kidnapped them and brought them here, halway

round the world. How had it come to this?

By

Loreen Janzen


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Janzen, Loreen

Married to a errorist

Copright 2008 Loreen Janzen

All rights reserved. No part o this pblication ma be reprodced, stored

in a retrieval sstem, or transmitted in an orm or b an means, electronic,

mechanical, photocoping, recording, or otherwise, withot written

permission o the athor and pblisher.

Pblished b: Loreen Janzen

2nd Printing

Pblication assistance inclding design, editorial work, printing and

distribtion b PageMaster Pblication Services Inc.

10180 105 Street, Edmonton AB 5J 1E1

www.pagemaster.ca

Digitally printeD in canaDa by

ISBN 0-978-1-897544-05-1


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Tis book is dedicated to m children,

Lee,

Pamela,

Mechele,ro, and

Mark.

M dearest children, I hope that this will enable o to comprehend

the part o or backgrond that o have never known and to give o a

better nderstanding o the diclt times o had growing p.

And to the contless women who nd themselves in need o a sae

place. Fit percent o the proceeds oMarried to a errorist are dedicated

to Womens Shelters.


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Acknowledgements

Man acclamations to m sister, Bev Krekla and her amil or

helping me pt m thoghts and words on paper.

o m Mom and Dad, sisters and amil or the strength and stabilit

the gave me as I was growing p.

M thanks to Wes Besler or helping me nrtre and raise the children

and or son Mark.

Tanks to Irene Stherland or her incentive and encoragement to

write m stor and or introdcing me to Joan Mrph.

Tanks to Joan or her spport and or introdcing me to Gail Scott

at the universit o Alberta.

M appreciation to Adrienne Kaiser who also helped me critiqe m

manscript.

Tank o to all m riends, especiall Anka Stephan, Linda Fjeldstad

and Mariln Richardson or their companionship and moral spport.

Tanks to Lorraine Flowers or editing help.

Tanks to Lori Kell, Dale yongman and the team at PageMaster.

Tank o all rom the bottom o m heart,

Loreen Janzen.


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Contents

Chapter One

Canadians aken Hostage Febrar 23, 1976 Beirt 1

Chapter wo

Back to the Beginning (1940- 1957) 19

Chapter TreeFirst re Love (1958-1959) 38

Chapter For

Meeting m Mohammed (1959-1960) 43

Chapter Five

Marriage: Shattered Dreams(1960-1962) 56

Chapter SixOr rip to Lebanon and Aterward (1963-1968) 70

Chapter Seven

Te Kidnapping rom Canada (1969) 88

Chapter Eight

Getting the Children Back (1969) 98

Chapter NineKelowna: Living like Hostages ( 1970-1973) 113

Chapter en

Escape to Wetaskiwin: Te Letter Bombs (1973-1976) 126

Chapter Eleven

Or Lives Aterward (1976-Present) 141


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Chapter One

Canadians Taken Hostage February 23, 1976 Beirut

Te phone was ringing next to m ear. I swear I cold hear it in m

sleep. It was onl 7:00 in the morning. Who cold it be? Finall I awoke

enogh to answer it.

Hello.

Hi, Loreen.

Loreen pt the radio on. It was m sister Mrna rom Edmonton.

Mohammed is holding p the Canadian Embass in Beirt with 20 to 30hostages. M God! What next?

I sat p in bed, jmped to m eet and ran to the kitchen to trn

the radio on. I mbled into m hosecoat. Fear gripped m stomach. I

checked to see i the children were all right.

What was going to happen to s now? Wold or ties to this man

never stop hanting me?

Te ront doorbell rang and I went to the door.

Tere greeting me were a grop o news reporters ll eqipped

with notebooks and cameras, pointing towards me. One o them thrst a

microphone into m ace. Te Press!

Are o Loreen Hamor? one asked.

yes, I replied

Have o heard the news that or hsband Mohammed Hamor

is holding p the Canadian Embass?

Hes not m hsband an more, I declared, and explained that msister Mrna had jst phoned and given me the news


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2 MARRIED TO A TERRORIST

consed and scared hal to death I gave a brie explanation, I know that

he is a sick man and that this isnt reall nsal or him. He kidnapped

the children in 1969. I had to go over to Beirt to bring them back toCanada. Te children and I are continall living in ear everda o his

coming to kidnap them.

I peered over their heads and I saw man cars either parking or driving

p to the ront o the hose. Others jst passed the hose. Prett bs, I

thoght or a small town at sch an hor.

Everwhere television cameras were being set p. All the wa down

the street, people were coming to m hose.I have to go, I mmbled and closed the door.

I didnt know what to do. Shold I send the children to school in the

midst o all o this commotion? I didnt even eel qite awake et!

I was in shock.

Te doorbell rang again. I went to the door and slowl opened it,

araid o what I wold nd. Tere stood two men in plain clothes who

identied themselves as RCMP ocers. Te asked i the cold come in.I nodded sti.

Te explained the sitation and asked me not to talk to the news

media at this time becase the innocent people Mohammed was holding

as hostages might be pt in danger i the wrong things were said. Tere

was no knowing what wold or cold pt their lives in more danger. Te

asked i I cold come down to the police station in Wetaskiwin to answer

a ew qestions.Te children were jst getting p at this point, wondering what was

going on. I explained to the policemen that I had to call m parents to come

and look ater the children beore I cold go anwhere.

Te ear mom and dad elt or the children and me was plain to read

on their aces when the arrived later. Mom said that Mrna had called and

explained what was happening. M goodness girl, she said, What next?

M Dad was so rios he said that the shold jst pt him p against a

wall and shoot him. We all elt totall helpless.

T r it d t rt m t th t ti I mpli d I d z I


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3CANADIANS TAKEN HOSTAGE

headqarters to ask her a ew qestions. Te made it sond as i I had

somehow been involved in the things Mohammed had jst done.

I was escorted past the reporters and all o the people otside orhose to the police car. Locked in the back seat o the police car, I elt like

a criminal. How cold this be, I thoght. I hadnt done anthing. I was

innocent. Mohammed was the gilt one. Wh was I being pnished et

again or something I hadnt done?

Onl an hor had passed since I had awakened to the stnning news.

I watched the snow on the grond throgh the car window as we drove

to downtown Wetaskiwin. Cold and nmb, helpless, insecre, I oght thetears o ear that threatened to choke m breath.

Qestions whirled in m brain. How did the nd s so ast, here in

a small town in Alberta? An minte now I was sre that m heart wold

stop ponding that it might jst stop altogether.

Mohammed had reall done it this time. Tis was an international

incident. Mabe now it wasnt a amil matter an more, mabe the

wold deport him so he coldnt case an more hrt, to s or anone else.Mabe.

At the station I was taken into a small room. wo policemen sat with

me. Te asked i it was oka to tape the conversation. I nodded nmbl.

Te asked me i Mohammed Hamor was m hsband and when I had

last seen him?

When and wh I had let him, were the next qestions.

I told them that I had let him in 1973 or the second time. I told themabot the kidnapping, abot the letter bombs and the one that had been

meant or me. I told them abot all the mental and emotional abse over

the ears.

I told them I was terribl araid o him and m ear that he might

kidnap the children again. I knew the things o which he was capable o,

that he had held me and the children as virtal hostages or ears; hostages

o his threats, his violence, and his mistreatment. I explained to the ocers

that a lie didnt mean mch to Mohammed, jst as the laws o Canada

m t thi g t him


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4 MARRIED TO A TERRORIST

I sspected that he had been involved in political organizations in

Lebanon and Jordan. In act, he had sggested and intimated it himsel on

nmeros occasions when I was in Lebanon getting m children back. Techildren had told me that he onl came to see them on weekends when he

had them there. When I asked him abot wh he didnt visit the children

more, he told me that he was in Jordan on bsiness.

What bsiness? I wold ask. He wold repl that he met with the

PLO even yasser Araat.

Fnn, bt Id never qestioned his answers then. Te policemens

qestioning seemed to last orever.Finall the ocers drove me back to m hose. Te police wold sta

with me and m children and wold remain in constant contact with the

government ocials dealing with the hostage taking in Lebanon.

When I learned that Mohammed was demanding that his wie and

children be broght to Lebanon I became ver rightened.

So ll o helplessness. I was overwhelmed.

How cold I make them nderstand that there was no wa I wold bea part to this. Nothing wold convince me to go to him and to hand him

or children, not ater what we had alread been throgh.

Te lives o the hostages seemed to pale in comparison to the threat

that Mohammed posed to s. How cold the even ask? Did or lives mean

nothing? Te wanted to exchange or lives or those o the hostages. Te

might as well shoot me right here, becase once over there in his contr

he wold, and the children wold become lost in his wa o thinking.Te children; Lee, Pam and Mechele were at school when I arrived

back home. Mom and Dad had gotten them o.

Mom and Dad and m son ro were the onl ones in the hose with

the ocers. I became rantic. Wh had the sent the children to school? I

was so terried or the children that I phoned the school and asked that

the children be broght back home. I wanted them where I cold see them

and know that the werent in danger.

I didnt trst anone.

T pri ip l br ght th m h m him l h r d r t di g


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5CANADIANS TAKEN HOSTAGE

Te children were rightened too. I sat down and explained to them

what was happening, and tried to reassre them not to worr.

Qestions lled m mind. How do o sit down and tell or orchildren not to worr in sch a sitation, children who had alread gone

throgh so mch? I was particlarl concerned or the three, who were

kidnapped b this man in 1969.

How do o tell or children that their ather is holding innocent

people hostage? How do o prepare them or the possibilit that the

might have to go back to Lebanon to help ree those same hostages?

How?yo cant! yo jst cant!

Arond 10:00 that same morning m children, m parents and I

watched as a television news blletin came across the screen. Ever V

station, it seemed, was carring this Canadian News Blletin.

Edd (Mohammed) Hamor, a Canadian citizen was holding

hostages in the Canadian Embass in Beirt, Lebanon. He and the other

terrorists have stated that the will throw ot one o the hostages everhor i their demands were not met. He wanted mone rom the British

Colmbia Provincial Government and his amil fown to him in Beirt.

B this time everone we knew had heard the news, both in Wetaskiwin

and in Edmonton where we had lived ears earlier.

M pastor arrived to pra with s or the people being held hostage

and their amilies, or the children and or or whole amil. I remember,

he asked God to make me strong, that I wold not crmble, becase thechildren reall needed their mother. We also praed that no harm wold

come to anone overseas in Lebanon, that no one wold panic and do

something craz, and that no lives wold be lost.

Later, in a moment o despair, I remember m ather kept shaking his

head and saing over and over, Tis cant be happening to or amil.

Te phone rang and one o the ocers answered.

It seemed to me that he was on the phone or qite a long time. Ten

the called me to the phone.

It th D Mi i t r r m Ott Wh d th t t t lk


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