A senior Muslim cleric is offering to swap places with an Australian hostage held in Iraq, the sheik's spokesman said Thursday. Douglas Wood, a 63-year-old engineer, was abducted early this month by a militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq. Australia's mufti, Sheik Taj El Din al-Hilaly, flew to Iraq to negotiate his release and last week reported having a telephone conversation with an Australian he believed to be Wood who said he was well.The sheik has offered to swap places with Wood, a California resident who suffers from a serious heart condition, in a statement expected to be broadcast soon on Middle Eastern television, spokesman Keysar Trad said. "For the mufti of Australia to make that offer _ it's certainly a very attractive offer to any group, to hold a very prominent person and let their captive free so he can seek medical treatment," Trad told Nine Network television. "They promised to set him free before without these conditions but the mufti's now trying to force their hand and trying to get them to make a move and release Mr. Wood," he said.