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Iraq, British won't give in to kidnappers
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-24 01:40
The British and Iraqi governments said Thursday they would not bow to the
demands of militants threatening to kill a British hostage, despite a video
message from the captive pleading for his life.
The kidnappers say they will behead Kenneth Bigley unless all Iraqi women are
freed from U.S.-run jails.
Video grab image
taken from an Islamist web site shows what appears to be British hostage
Kenneth Bigley, September 22, 2004. Bigley, facing a death threat from
Iraqi kidnappers, appealed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair for his
life in a videotape released on Islamist Web sites on Wednesday.
[Reuters] |
After a
day of confusion Wednesday over whether one of two Iraqi women in U.S. custody
in Iraq would be freed, the interim Iraqi government said in a statement that
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was not willing to allow her release.
"The government renews its call on the terrorists to release Kenneth Bigley
forthwith and without condition," it said.
In a speech to the U.S. Congress in Washington, Allawi reiterated his belief
that Iraq's fledgling security forces would prevail against the insurgents, as
well as the widespread violence which threatens elections scheduled for January.
"In Iraq, we confront both an insurgency and the global war on terror, with
their destructive forces sometimes overlapping," he said. "I can tell you today
they will not succeed."
Italy's government dismissed two Internet statements saying two female
Italian aid workers kidnapped in Iraq had been killed, saying there was no
evidence to confirm the claims.
The two were seized in broad daylight in Baghdad earlier this month. Last
Thursday, Bigley and Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley were also
seized by gunmen in Baghdad.
The Tawhid and Jihad group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
says it killed Armstrong and Hensley because the U.S. military rejected its
demand to free all Iraqi women from U.S.-run prisons in Iraq.
Video footage showing the beheading of the two Americans has been posted on
the Internet, and CIA officials say analysis of Armstrong's killing suggests
Zarqawi himself wielded the knife.
DESPERATE PLEA
In a separate video message released
by the kidnappers, 62-year-old Bigley was shown pleading for his life and appealing
to British Prime Minister Tony Blair for help.
"I don't want to die. I don't deserve it," Bigley said. He was wearing the
same kind of orange overalls that Armstrong and Hensley were made to wear before
they were killed.
Bigley sobbed as he said he wanted to see his family again.
"I think this is my last chance to speak. I don't want to die in Iraq,
neither do the women in the prisons," he said in the 11-minute message. "I want
to live, I want to live."
But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the government could not
negotiate with hostage-takers.
"Of course our hearts go out yet more to him and to his family," Straw told
the BBC. "But I'm afraid to say it can't alter the position of the British
government.
"We can't get into a situation of bargaining with terrorists, because this
would put many more people's lives at risk, not only in Iraq but around the
world."
Bigley's family asked the kidnappers to tell him that "(we) love him dearly
and are waiting for him to come home soon."
In a statement, the family again appealed to Bigley's captors to free him:
"You have proved to the world that you are committed and determined. Be
merciful, as we know you can be."
In Bangkok, his weeping Thai wife Sombat said: "I pray for your mercy now and
beg you to release him."
"DR GERM" RELEASE BLOCKED
The U.S. military says it holds only two female prisoners
in Iraq. Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash, dubbed "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax"
by U.S. forces, are accused of working on former President Saddam Hussein's
weapons programs.
Iraqi officials said a review process by Iraqis and U.S. forces had
recommended 10 days ago that three "high-value detainees," including Taha,
should be considered for release. But a statement from the government said
Allawi did not want Taha to be freed for the moment.
Discussions on Taha's possible release were unrelated to the kidnappers'
demands, the government added.
Since April, militant groups in Iraq have seized more than 100 hostages. Most
have been released, but about 30 have been killed. Among those still believed to
be held are two French journalists captured south of Baghdad last month.
Two Internet statements from different groups say the two Italian aid workers
kidnapped earlier this month had been killed. One statement said pictures of the
killing would be posted on the Internet.
The speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament, Pierferdinando Casini, told
lawmakers the government believed the claims were "unreliable" and was treating
them with "total suspicion."
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