'US is sabotaging his safety'
2004-09-23 09:45
London - The brother of British hostage Kenneth Bigley on Thursday accused the United States-led coalition in Iraq of having "sabotaged" his safe release by refusing to free a detained woman scientist.
Paul Bigley told BBC radio that there had been "a shadow of light in a big, long, dark, damp, filthy, cold tunnel" when an Iraqi judge on Wednesday approved the release of the scientist, as demanded by his brother's abductors.
"Now this has been sabotaged" by the US refusal to let the scientist, Rihab Taha, who was involved in Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, out of prison, Bigley charged.
Kenneth Bigley, 62, whose two fellow American hostages have been executed at the hands of the Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group, made an emotional appeal to British Prime Minister Tony Blair late on Wednesday to save his life.
'He can go fishing'
"I need you (Blair) to be compassionate as you always said you were... I don't want to die," said the hostage, breaking into tears, in a fuzzy video posted on the Internet.
Paul Bigley revealed that he has been making personal contacts of his own in the Middle East to secure his brother's release, but he made it clear on Thursday that US policy was working against that goal.
"The fact on the table now is that nobody has to negotiate with anybody about anything," he said. "Mr Blair can go fishing, as far as I'm concerned.
"All the powers have to do now is allow the Iraqis to conduct their own internal affairs the way they should be doing."
'Shadow of light'
He continued: "A judge (in Iraq) has made a legal decision to release three people, one female and two males. The minister of justice has endorsed this (and) published this on international news.
"Based on this, together with my lobbying in the background, my personal lobbying in the background in the Middle East, we have a stay of execution and we have saved my brother's life for at least 24 hours.
"That was a shadow of light in a big, long, dark, damp, filthy, cold tunnel," he said.
"Now this has been sabotaged. I mean, you know, is this a puppet government, or are the Americans moving the goalposts to suit their own means again? What's going on here? Leave the Iraqis to do their own Iraqi business."