Kidnapping: Ultimatum lifted

2005-05-16 09:39

Baghdad - An Australian cleric in Iraq to negotiate the release of a kidnapped contractor told AFP on Sunday that an ultimatum hanging over Sydney to withdraw its troops had been lifted to allow further talks.

"The kidnappers have postponed the ultimatum indefinitely," Australian mufti Sheikh Taj Eldin al-Hilali said. "We have had indirect contacts and things seem to be heading in the right direction."

Nothing has been heard of 63-year-old Australian contractor Douglas Wood since his kidnappers released a DVD which was broadcast on May 6 and set a 72-hour deadline for Sydney to pull out its troops from Iraq.

Australia, a close US ally, took part in the US-led invasion of March 2003 and still has about 550 troops stationed in Iraq, has refused the kidnappers' demands.

Hilali met mainly with clerics from the Committee of Muslim Scholars, which is the highest Sunni authority in Iraq and has often mediated for the release of foreign hostages.

On Sunday, Wood's family launched an advertising campaign in the Iraqi media consisting of a television commercial and newspaper ads to seek public help in finding him.

- AFP