Hopes grew yesterday for the release of five British men kidnapped in Iraq two years ago after the US military freed a prominent insurgent connected to the hostage takers.
Laith al-Khazali was released over the weekend as part of a wider process of political reconciliation between the Iraqi Government and Asaib al-Haq (League of the Righteous), the Shia group behind the abduction.
The kidnappers have repeatedly demanded the release of Mr al-Khazali and his brother Qais, along with eight other detainees, in return for Peter Moore, a computer consultant, and his four security guards.
Sami al-Askari, an Iraqi MP, said he hoped that the five Britons would be freed soon. “Hopefully [it] will happen in the next few weeks or months,” he told The Times. Mr al-Askari said that Asaib al-Haq, which has been negotiating with the Iraqi Government since last year, had renounced violence.
“The Government put it very clearly to them that they cannot participate in the political process while they are holding hostages, and I believe that they do want to take part in this process, so I expect that they will release the hostages,” he said.
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The MP said that the group refused to deal with British or US officials.
British and Iraqi officials have dismissed the idea of a prisoner exchange. They say that Mr alKhazali’s release is related to reconciliation efforts and the release or transfer to Iraqi jurisdiction of about 11,000 men held in US detention in Iraq.
Mr Moore’s father welcomed the latest development. “It is good news for Pete,” said Graeme Moore, who lives near Leicester. “I am feeling a mixture of happy and unsure.”
As many as 40 gunmen in police uniform kidnapped Mr Moore and his guards, who have been identified only by their first names — two Jasons, Alan and Alec — from a Finance Ministry compound in Baghdad on May 29, 2007.
Raising the profile of the case on the second anniversary of the kidnapping, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, renewed an appeal for their release, while family members broadcast emotional statements about their loved ones. The seven-year-old daughter of one of the Jasons wrote her father a letter, which read: “To Daddy — I miss you very much, we all want you to come home. I love you very much. When you come back I will give you the biggest huge hug. We will never give up until you come home. I love you and miss you so much. Lots of kisses, Maddi.”
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Asaib al-Haq, which allegedly has links to Iran, is accused of killing five US soldiers in 2007 in Karbala, south of Baghdad. Laith al-Khazali and Qais al-Khazali, thought to be members, have been held by the US since March 2007. Demands for their release were made in the fourth and most recent video of the captives. The footage was given to the British Embassy in Baghdad in March.