– BRITISH PETER MOORE APPEARED ON VIDEO

The kidnappers of five Britons held in Iraq for nearly two years have sent a new video of the captives to the British embassy in Baghdad on Saturday 03/21/2009.

The video shows one hostage, Peter Moore, saying the five are being treated well, Channel 4 News said. He calls for their release. The video was shot eight days ago and has not been released to the media.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman did not give details but said it was a “significant development”.

The five Britons, whose names have never been officially released, were seized by a group of around 40 gunmen wearing police uniforms at the Iraqi Finance Ministry in Baghdad in 05/2007.

At the time, the kidnapping was blamed on members of the Mahdi Army, a radical Shiaa militia controlled by outspoken cleric Muqtada Sadr. The kidnapping is thought to have been carried out after British troops killed the militia’s commander in Basra, in southern Iraq, a week before.

In February 2008 a video was released in which Mr Moore said: “My name is Peter Moore, I have been held here for nearly eight months now.” In a previous tape, broadcasted in 12/2007, one of the four British bodyguards seized along with IT consultant Peter Moore was flanked by gunmen and warned of an ultimatum.

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* Eventually Peter Moor was released, unharmed, on Wednesday 12/20/2009, and handed over to the Iraqi authorities. The release was enabled as part of a reconciliation, amnesty and leniency program with all kinds of armed groups in Iraq, conducted by the Iraqi regime. The program included the Shiaa Leagues of Righteousness group (Asaib al-Haq in Arabic), suspected of links to the kidnap of five Britons, Peter More and four bodyguards. The bodyguards were later assassinated by their hijackers.  

 

 

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