Brown appeals to Iraq PM over hostages

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-22 21:44

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted Monday that his government made every effort to secure the release of five hostages held in Iraq, after the bodies of two of the men were handed to authorities.

Brown said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had pledged in a phone call Sunday to make renewed attempts to free the remaining British hostages, who have been held for more than two years.

An image grab from the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news network shows British hostage Peter Moore who has been held in Iraq along with four of his colleagues. [Agencies]

"I can assure you that we have left no stone unturned in our efforts to release the hostages, to work with the Iraqi authorities to maintain our vigilance about what needs to be done," Brown said at a news conference Monday.

The Foreign Office said the two bodies given to British authorities on Sunday were "highly likely" to be those of Jason Creswell, from Glasgow, Scotland, and Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale in northwest England.

Brown said the bodies would be returned home soon. "For these families I know this is a very difficult time. After two years of waiting and the anxieties of that, they have now been given the worst possible news," he said.

Both Creswell and Swindlehurst had worked for Canadian security firm GardaWorld and were abducted in May 2007 along with information technology consultant Peter Moore and two other bodyguards, identified only as Alan and Alec.

The five men were overpowered by armed Shiite militants outside the Finance Ministry in Baghdad, and have since been seen only in videotapes released by their captors.

Graeme Moore, father of Peter Moore, criticized the British government for doing to little to win their release. "They haven't done anything. They should have been straight in directing negotiations right from the beginning," Moore told GMTV television.

Brown insisted continual efforts had been made to free the men, and urged those holding both British and Iraqi hostages to release them immediately.

"I just want to assure the public that, every time I have been in touch with Prime Minister Maliki over these last two years, this is an issue which has been right at the top of our agenda," Brown said.

Brown's office said that he had been in contact over the weekend with some relatives of the hostages, but declined to give further details.

The US Embassy in Iraq demanded the release of the remaining hostages, as it extended condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the two slain men.

"The taking of hostages is never justified, and we reiterate our call for all hostages to be released immediately," the embassy said in a statement.

It is unclear when or how the two British men whose bodies have been recovered died. Last year, a British newspaper reported a claim by the kidnappers that one of the hostages had committed suicide, but the report was never confirmed.

Hopes for the men had risen after the release earlier this month of Laith al-Khazali, a Shiite militant who had been held in US custody. The kidnappers had demanded the release of nine militiamen, including al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali, in exchange for the British hostages.