Politicians unite in plea for hostage release
Politicians and activists of all different persuasions have united today in pleas for the release of UK hostage Ken Bigley.
Mr Bigley, a British engineer, has now been held by militants in Iraq for nearly two weeks, whilst the two American men captured with him have been beheaded. Last night a new video of Mr Bigley was screened on Al-Jazeera television, showing him caged and pleading for help.
Throughout this week at the Labour Party conference ministers and delegates have queued up to condemn the taking of hostages, and urge the militants to release Mr Bigley.
The Government has repeatedly said that it will not negotiate with terrorists, but Tony Blair said this morning they would talk to those holding Mr Bigley if they got in contact – but there would be no alteration to the Government’s commitments in Iraq.
This position has been endorsed by both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.
Two representatives of the Muslim Council of Britain have been in Iraq meeting with religious authorities. In a statement the MCB said: “We appeal to the group that is holding Ken Bigley to release him without delay and without harm. He is an elderly man and he is due to become a grandfather soon. Be merciful. Our religion Islam does not allow us to harm the innocent”.
The Iraqi interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has called for Mr Bigley’s release, saying: “It is repugnant to take an innocent man such as Kenneth Bigley and to use him as a political pawn in this way”.
Today, a group of the UK’s leading trade unionists made a televised appeal for his release. The leader of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams has appeared on Al-Jazeera, saying: “The majority of people in Ireland were against the invasion of Iraq and are against the war in Iraq.I believe that the cause of those who hold Mr Bigley can be better advanced if they are magnanimous and generous and release him.”
Concerns have been raised about the level of media coverage that the kidnapping has inspired. Peter Preston, the former editor of the Guardian, has questioned whether it is right for the media in general to give hostage takers such publicity.
Writing on BBC Online this morning, he posed a dilemma for editors, saying: “The most vicious of the Iraqi groups who take hostages like Kenneth Bigley aren’t after ransom money: they want their deeds on the internet and then on front pages and television screens everywhere.
“It boosts their power in the Arab world. It shakes western public opinion. It’s the name of their game.
“What do we – those editors who have come to realise the ploy and our readers and listeners – do about that?”
This is a question most of the media has not yet resolved. Of the main newspapers, this morning the Independent, Mirror, Mail, Sun and the Times all carried pictures or articles of Mr Bigley on their front pages.
