Britain exchanged messages with Ken Bigley’s captors says Straw
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has condemned the killing of Ken Bigley as a ‘barbaric murder’ and confirmed that the UK had exchanged messages with his captors.
Mr Straw offered his “condolences and deepest sympathy” to Mr Bigley’s family, saying they had conducted themselves with a ‘greatest dignity, courage and strength’.
“I hope that in their grief they can take some comfort from the enormous public admiration for them and from the knowledge that their sorrow will be widely shared in all communities and by those of every faith in this country and abroad”, he said.
Mr Straw continued: “It is hard to imagine what it must be like to go through so terrible an ordeal, but it is even harder to imagine how anyone could inflict such suffering, to kidnap a man, to subject him and his family to the agony of prolonged uncertainty and then to murder him in this way, is inhuman.”
According to the Foreign Secretary, four days ago the British embassy in Baghdad was approached by what he described as an “intermediary”.
Since then, he said, contacts were made between the hostage takers and the UK government.
Mr Straw said it was “very clearly” in Mr Bigley’s interest that the Government should do “all [they] could to establish contact.”
“Messages were exchanged with the hostage takers in an attempt to dissuaded them from carrying out their threat to kill Mr Bigley, but at no stage did they abandon their demands relating to the release of women prisoners even though they were fully aware that there are no women prisoners in our custody in Iraq”, he relayed.
“Both the Prime Minister and I approved these communications and endorsed their content which were in line with public statements which both of us have made.”
Mr Straw confirmed that Ken Bigley’s family in Liverpool and his wife in Thailand were “kept fully aware” of the Government’s communications with this intermediary.
He added: “This afternoon, as we all now know, the intermediary has provided us with proof beyond doubt that Ken Bigley’s captors have carried out their threat.”
Although Mr Straw said the hostage taker’s demands had never changed, he gave no details of how the Government responded in dealing with the intermediary.
Mr Bigley’s brother, Phil, also said he has received “absolute proof” that his brother has been killed.
Ken Bigley is thought to have been beheaded by a group under the control of the Jordanian militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who had been holding him since September 15th.
A video showing his death has been released to a number of news organizations, according to witnesses.
Mr Bigley, 62, of Liverpool, was captured along with two US citizens, both of whom were recently beheaded.
