Brother: Bigley will be freed
2004-09-29 13:20
London - The kidnappers of Briton Ken Bigley in Iraq have posted a message suggesting they will free him, his brother Paul said in a television interview on Wednesday.
"I believe it is true and we are hoping and waiting to see what happens now," Paul Bigley said from his home in the Netherlands after he received a written translation of the message.
The Foreign Office said meanwhile it was continuing to check several messages and postings on Internet websites which claimed Bigley, who has been held in Iraq for nearly two weeks, could be released "imminently".
The statement said the group holding Bigley "frees the prisoner and saves his life and warns all those who collaborate with the aggressor, in whatever form, to leave the country, otherwise they will meet the same fate as his predecessors - that is, beheading".
Message to the British
The message continues: "Let his liberation be a clear message to the British people and also an appeal for them to realize the incapacity of their government and its crime in not freeing Iraqi prisoners in exchange for the life of their son."
The communique, posted on Tuesday night on the Arabic-language website Al Qalah.com, said Bigley was to be freed imminently but warned others would be kidnapped and beheaded if foreign forces failed to withdraw from Iraq.
Bigley, a 62-year-old engineer, was seized September 16 from his Baghdad home, and is being held by Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), the Islamist group led by top United States foe Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"If this is real, Ken will just appear somewhere and that is what we are waiting for," Paul Bigley told the ITV news channel.
"It is not just a typical communique, it is so intricately put together in the language and format that I am 90% sure that the contents are true," he said.
'Ken will be spared'
"The contents are a lot of political details, condemning this and condemning that, but the bottom line is that Ken will be spared," he added.
"There is also a warning that Britain will have to pay attention in the future," he said.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said work was under way to authenticate the claims but he admitted it was a complex process.
"It is difficult to establish the veracity of the claims because you can never know if these are the work of someone making fun of the situation in an Internet cafe or if they are genuine," he said.
"We are treating the messages very seriously, as we must do with all possible communications in this situation."
- AFP