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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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