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British hostage's son in appeal to Blair
The son of a British man held hostage in Iraq has urged Tony Blair to help save his father's life following the murder of a fellow captive. A website thought to be linked to the group holding Ken Bigley and two Americans features a video showing one of the other men being beheaded. On BBC News 24 Mr Bigley's son Craig urged Mr Blair to "meet the demands... two women for two men".The video showing the killing of one hostage also appeared to announce a 24-hour extension to the deadline when the two remaining hostages would be killed. The nine-minute long video tape - which has not been verified - showed five militants dressed in black behind the sobbing man, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit. After reading a statement, the man in the centre, believed to be Mr Zarqawi himself, appeared to pull what looked like a knife and cut the man's throat. The speaker warned that the next hostage would die in 24 hours unless their demands were met. Following the broadcast of the killing, the US recovered a body which it named as Eugene Armstrong. Tawhid and Jihad has demanded the release of women it says are held by coalition authorities in the Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr prisons in Iraq. But the US has said no women are held at either jail, although two female "security prisoners" are held elsewhere. They include Dr Rihab Rashid Taha, a senior scientist who worked on Saddam Hussein's bacterial weapons programme and was nicknamed Doctor Germ. Posted by: Bulldog 2004-09-21 |
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