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View Full Version : Final Brit Hostage 'Believed To Be Alive'



Blackpool
07-29-2009, 09:54 PM
The family of the final British man held hostage in Iraq has been told by the Prime Minister he is still believed to be alive.



Gordon Brown also confirmed that Government officials last week told relatives of security guards Alan McMenemy and Alec MacLachlan that their loved ones were "very likely" to be dead.

The two were captured in Baghdad in 2007 along with fellow security guards Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell and the man they were guarding, IT consultant Peter Moore.

The bodies of Mr Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Mr Creswell, of Glasgow, were returned to the British embassy in the Iraqi capital last month.

On Wednesday evening Mr Brown was able to offer hope to the family of Mr Moore.

"I and the entire Government are committed to doing everything that we can for the release of Peter Moore, whom we still believe to be alive," he said.



In a statement the families of the five men said they were "deeply upset and troubled" at the news of Mr McMenemy and Mr MacLachlan.

"We are all deeply upset and troubled to hear the reports that Alec and Alan have died in the hands of their captors, as well as Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell," the statement said.

"This is a terrible ordeal for us all. We ask those holding our men for compassion when so many are working hard for reconciliation in Iraq and we continue to pray for the safe return of our men."

The Prime Minister also called for "clarity" on the fate of the three men.

"Hostage-taking is never justified and has no place in Iraq's future: I condemn it unreservedly," he said.

"Once again [I] call on the hostage-takers to release Peter Moore and give us clarity on the fates of Alec MacLachlan and Alan McMenemy."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband added the UK was "in contact with those who are in contact with the hostage takers".

"All of our efforts are working to ensure the safe release of that hostage," he said following talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

The five Britons were seized by around 40 armed men wearing police uniforms at the finance ministry in Baghdad on May 29 2007.

Responsibility for the kidnapping was at first pinned on firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in retaliation for the killing by British forces of the militia's commander in Basra a week earlier.

But al-Sadr's followers denied responsibility and suspicion fell on splinter groups the US believes are controlled by Iran.



The kidnappers, calling themselves the Islamic Shiite Resistance in Iraq, have issued several videos featuring the captives and making demands.

In February last year, a video broadcast by Dubai-based TV station Al-Arabiya showed a bearded and tired-looking Mr Moore asking Mr Brown to free nine Iraqis in exchange for the British hostages.

His estranged father, Graham Moore, said: "This just proves that the Foreign Office has mishandled it. There were rumours two weeks ago that the two bodyguards had been shot dead.

"At the moment, we are going on the hope that Peter is alive and we can't really say any more than that."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...don_Brown_Says
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