Greater Boston’s evangelical Haitian community prayed yesterday for the safe return of a Dorchester pastor and an Everett woman who were kidnapped in Egypt while on a religious mission to Israel, apparently by a 32-year-old truck driver demanding his uncle’s release from jail.
The Rev. Michel Louis, 61, pastor of the Free Pentecostal Church of God on Harvard Street and a woman Louis’ family and multiple reports identified as Lisa Alphonse, 39, of Everett were captured along with their tour guide Friday. Authorities said the kidnapper stopped their bus on its way to Mount Sinai — an area so perilous for tourists that even the U.S. Department of State forbids its employees from traveling across the region.
Louis’ family awaited word of his condition at his home on Talbot Avenue, while members of his congregation prayed for his safety.
“We’re all in good spirits because we know that the God we serve is in control of the matter,” Louis’ eldest son, Jean Louis, told reporters. “The only concern we have at the moment is that he is diabetic, and the longer they hold him, I assume that’s not going to work in his favor.”
Friends of the Alphonse family at a church in Somerville declined to comment yesterday. Efforts to reach her family were unsuccessful.
Louis called his father “our reverend, a leader, a father, an uncle, a brother, a grandfather and a friend to the community,” and said he’d been looking forward to his annual pilgrimage to Israel. He said the family’s hopes are bolstered by word that the State Department is trying to negotiate the captives’ release. Egyptian state media reported yesterday that authorities there are pleading for the tourists’ release.
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown called the kidnapping “distressing” and said he had been in contact with both the State Department and the hostages’ families.
“I will continue working with U.S. officials to do everything in our power to bring these folks home to Massachusetts safely,” Brown said.
The kidnapper, a Bedouin identified as Jirmy Abu-Masuh, told The Associated Press that Louis, Alphonse and their tour guide were safe, but he threatened to take more international hostages if police fail to release his uncle from prison.
A quivering Haytham Ragab, the tour guide, spoke to The Associated Press by telephone, saying Louis and Alphonse “are scared, but we were treated well.”
Louis apparently has been allowed to call his wife, who accompanied him on the journey, but their son declined to say whether he had spoken to his mother.
The captives were taken in broad daylight when Abu-Masuh stopped the packed tour bus along a road that links Cairo to the foot of Mount Sinai, where the Old Testament says the prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments. The route to the monastery is a frequent target by Bedouins who abduct tourists to pressure police, often to release relatives they believe have been unjustly arrested.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.