Bigley: Gaddafi to pay?
2004-10-06 17:01
Tripoli - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appealed on Wednesday for the release of Kenneth Bigley, the British engineer being held hostage in Iraq, official media said.
"I launch an appeal to the hostage's kidnappers, because his family has turned to us.
"We ask them to free this poor Briton," Gaddafi was quoted as saying by the state JANA news agency.
"If (the kidnappers) have conditions, let them inform us of them through any means.
"At the same time, we ask for the British government to use all its influence with the interim Iraqi government and its ally America to free Iraqi prisoners, which is the kidnappers' condition," he continued.
The Libyan leader asked the kidnappers to "make contact with us through a party who is not unknown or who is not accused of terrorism".
Bigley, 62, was kidnapped along with two American colleagues from their Baghdad home on August 16.
It is believed he is being held by US foe Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group.
The Americans have since been beheaded and Bigley has been seen pleading tearfully for his life on video footage released by his captors.
- AFP