4.45pm GMT update
Video released of five Britons held hostage in Iraq
Allegra Stratton and agencies
Tuesday December 4, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A video of five British citizens kidnapped in Iraq and
held since May has been aired on Al Arabiya television
today.
The video calls for British forces to withdraw from
the country or the kidnappers would kill one of their
five hostages.
The video showed a statement in which the group
threatened that "this hostage will be killed as a
first warning, which would be followed with details
that you would not wish to know".
One of the hostages was shown on the video as he sat
in front of a banner of the Shi'ite Islamic Resistance
in Iraq.
"Today is November 18. I have been here now 173 days
and I feel we've been forgotten," he said.
He was filmed with two masked militants pointing
assault rifles at him as he sat on the floor.
The Foreign Office has seen the video and issued a
statement condemning the taking of any hostages.
A Foreign Office spokesman said it was the first video
released concerning these hostages that the ministry
was aware of. They are the only British citizens held
hostage in Iraq.
The five men were abducted from the finance ministry
in Baghdad on Tuesday May 29 by about 40 gunmen
disguised in police uniforms and driving vehicles used
by the Iraqi security forces. The hostages are thought
to be an IT consultant and his four bodyguards.
The written statement featured on the video accused
Britain of plundering the wealth of Iraq and that the
five hostages had "acknowledged and confessed and
detailed the agenda with which they came to steal our
wealth under false pretense of being advisers to the
finance ministry."
On the video, the kidnapper said the date was November
18 and gave the UK 10 days to meet their demands.
The Foreign Office spokesman said: "No matter what the
cause, hostage taking can never be justified. We again
call on those holding the men to release them
unconditionally.
"We condemn the publication of this video which serves
only to add to the distress of the mens' family and
friends."
The abduction came as violence in Iraq was nearing its
peak. It has since declined, due largely to the influx
of American troops into the capital, the freeze in
activities from the feared Mahdi army Shiite militia,
and the US push to enlist local Sunnis to help in the
fight against al-Qaida.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited
2007
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