Gloom over the fate of two French journalists held hostage in Iraq has deepened after there was no immediate confirmation of a television report that the release of the pair was imminent.
Al-Arabiya television, based in Dubai, cited unidentified sources for its report. The French authorities called the report “rumour” but did not dismiss it outright.
Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who went missing on August 20, are being held by a Sunni militant group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq.
The group gave France an initial 48-hour ultimatum to revoke a controversial law banning Islamic head scarves from state schools, but extended its ultimatum by 24 hours to 8.30pm BST today.
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France said it would not rescind the law, which comes into effect when classes resume on Thursday.
President Jacques Chirac said today that all steps were being taken to secure the release of the pair. The Foreign Minister, Michel Barnier, has been meeting Middle East leaders for a second day to try and enlist their help in getting the reporters freed.
M Barnier met Jordan’s King Abdullah and the Foreign Minister, Marwan Muasher, after talks in Egypt on Monday.
“Jordan, as a result of its own problems resulting with its own citizens being abducted in Iraq, has developed contacts with many people and organisations that have contact with some of these groups,” Mr Muasher said.
In Paris, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, held an emergency cabinet meeting, while a prayer service was held at the city’s main mosque.
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Al-Arabiya’s editorial staff would not give details on the source of their “imminent release” report.
The Saudi-funded channel, which is based in Dubai, is the main rival of al-Jazeera, the station which has broadcast videotaped messages from the two journalists in recent days. In a video aired last night, the men pleaded with the French Government to comply with the militants’ demands.
The hopes of a release turned to fears for the men’s safety when Iraq’s highest Sunni Muslim religious organisation admitted it was not able to make contact with the militants holding them, and said it feared they could be executed.
“It is greatly regrettable that we could not have a direct channel to contact the kidnappers,” Sheikh Mohammed Bashar al-Faydhi, spokesman for Iraq’s committee of ulema (scholars), told a press conference.
“It’s for this reason that we are sending an open letter to the kidnappers through this press conference... because of the gravity of the issue and given that the ultimatum is approaching expiry,” he said.
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“We fear that all this will end in the execution of the two hostages,” Mr Faydhi added.
The sheikh of al-Azhar, the world’s leading Sunni Muslim authority, condemned the kidnapping and said that the act “contradicts the rules of the tolerant Muslim religion which calls for respect of human life, notably innocent (people).”
The death threat hanging over the journalists has set off a wave of outrage across France, uniting left and right, Muslims and non-Muslims.
Among those who have denounced the hostage-taking most vocally are leading opponents of the head scarf ban, who say that now that the law has been passed democratically it must be obeyed.