Bigley's wife: I'll be a nun

2004-09-28 14:36

London - Prime Minister Tony Blair is doing "everything he possibly can" to save the British engineer kidnapped in Iraq, Blair's deputy said on Tuesday as the hostage's family took encouragement from an offer of help by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Blair insists the government will not negotiate with the kidnappers of 62-year-old Kenneth Bigley, who have beheaded two Americans seized at the same time, but he is still working to save the Briton, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said.

"Tony Blair is working like hell and doing everything he possibly can to see if we can prevent any tragic circumstances coming out of this," Prescott said in Brighton, England, where he and Blair are attending the governing Labour Party's annual conference.

"Our thoughts must be with the Bigley family at the moment, and the difficulties they are facing," Prescott told BBC radio.

Wife's appeal

The militants claiming responsibility for the September 16 abduction have demanded the release of female Iraqi prisoners at American-controlled prisons - a move United States officials have ruled out.

Blair's 10 Downing Street office said negotiating would send the wrong message.

"We have to bear in mind the implications for any future activity by hostage-takers. That is why we have to adopt the position that we have," a spokesperson said, on customary condition of anonymity.

In Thailand, Bigley's wife, Sombat, prayed for him and appealed to his kidnappers.

"I want to send a message to the abductors: I'm begging them to release my husband. My husband is a good person," she said.

"He's the only one who feeds my family," she told Britain's ITV News network. "I want them to let my husband live. I can't live without him. If I don't have him, how can I live?"

She also appealed to the prime minister.

"Tony Blair, please help bring back Ken to me."

Bigley's brother, Paul, has urged Blair to make a personal plea for the man's release, saying silence from the prime minister would be "the kiss of death" for his brother.

Paul Bigley announced on Monday that Arafat had written a letter to his brother's captors after negotiations with Ireland's foreign affairs spokesperson Michael D Higgins.

"This is a step in the right direction, we haven't got Ken home yet of course but such a prominent figure ... as Yasser Arafat, this is fantastic," Paul Bigley told ITV News in a telephone interview. - AP

- AP