“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah, (The Laws of Islamic Governance).
This one seems to have been ransomed in exchange for prisoners.
“French hostage freed in Mali,” by Angela Doland for The Associated Press, February 23:
PARIS — A French hostage held captive in Mali for three months by Al-Qaida’s North Africa offshoot was freed Tuesday, following a contested court decision ordering a jail release for four suspected members of the militant group that abducted him.
Pierre Camatte, who ran a small organization fighting malaria in Mali, was en route to Bamako, the country’s capital, from where he planned to head to France, the French Foreign Ministry said. Officials in Paris did not provide details about his release.
There had been suggestions Camatte’s liberation was imminent. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the militant group that captured Camatte in late November, had posted a message on militant Web sites agreeing to hand him over if Mali released four of its members from jail….