"One can only hope and keep their fingers crossed and remain optimistic," her
mother, Ingrid Hala, told Germany N24 news station.
Hala said she had not heard from her daughter for about five years, and her
uncle, Peter Osthoff, said his niece had broken almost all ties with her family,
including a daughter who will be 12 in December.
"She has almost no contact with any relatives," he told the AP.
Germany's Central Council of Muslims called for Osthoff's immediate release.
The Iranian pilgrims were abducted Tuesday near Balad, 50 miles north of
Baghdad, police Maj. Falah Mohammedawi said, but it was not clear if the six
were going to or coming from Samarra, a central city that houses a shrine to two
Shiite saints.
Iraq and Iran, predominantly Shiite countries, reached an agreement earlier
this year on pilgrim visits, which excludes trips to Shiite shrines in Baghdad
and Samarra because of the dangerous security situation. The pilgrims appear to
have been violating that agreement.
Insurgents have kidnapped aid workers, journalists and contractors in an
attempt to drive foreigners out of the country or to win large ransoms.
Since May, abductions have fallen off considerably, mainly because many
Western groups left Iraq and security precautions for those remaining have been
tightened, with foreigners staying in barricaded compounds and moving only in
heavily guarded convoys.
The last American to be kidnapped was Jeffrey Ake, a contract worker from
LaPorte, Ind., who was abducted April 11. He was seen in a video aired days
afterward, held with a gun to his head, but there has been no word on his
fate.
