Gadafy Calls for Journalists to Be Freed

The Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy today added his voice to growing calls from the Arab world for the immediate release of the two French journalists being held hostage in Iraq, following an unprecedented diplomatic campaign.

Col Gadafy said kidnapping foreigners in Iraq amounted to "terrorism" and that kidnappings were especially reprehensible when they involved "hostages from countries that stood against the war in Iraq".

Although he did not name the two hostages, Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro, Col Gadafy made it clear he was asking for their release.

"I call on abductors of those hostages to free them immediately because this harms Islam," he said.

The Libyan leader's comments followed days of frantic diplomatic activity by the French government, which has refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands to scrap a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools.

The French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, has spent the past few days meeting leaders from across the Middle East and yesterday secured the assistance of Jordan, which has had success in similar situations. At least nine Jordanian hostages have been freed in Iraq in the last two weeks.

The kidnappings have stunned France, which vehemently opposed the US-led war in Iraq, and were widely condemned throughout the Arab world where many see France as an ally.

Yasser Arafat has called for the "immediate release" of the men, saying France was a friend of the Palestinian cause, while Jordan's King Abdullah II was quoted as telling Mr Barnier the abduction of the journalists "reflects the transgression committed by some against the ethics and values of benevolence and justice, which constitute the pillars of Islam".

Today Pope John Paul added his voice to calls for the journalists' release during his weekly audience in Rome.

According to unconfirmed reports, France has also dispatched Philippe Rondot, the secret agent who in the 1980s secured the release of hostages held in Lebanon, and a team of secret agents to Iraq to seek contacts with the captors.

The official Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported from Iraq last night that it expected the release of the journalists "within the next few hours", saying its report was based on "well-informed" sources.

However, there have been conflicting reports from the area over the past 24 hours with the Arab news network al-Arabiya reporting yesterday afternoon that their release was "imminent".

Al-Jazeera reported at the weekend that the original Sunday night deadline for their release had been extended by 24 hours.

But today there were claims that the deadline had actually been put forward by 48 hours, taking it to this evening.

A little-known militant group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for the hostage taking.

It did not say what would happen to the two men if France refused to back down, but it is thought to be the same group that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and killing of the Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.

In a videotape shown on Monday on al-Jazeera, Chesnot and Malbrunot called on Mr Chirac to obey the kidnappers' demand and rescind the ban on Muslim head scarves in schools to save their lives.

The controversial law is part of a broader measure aimed at combating racism that also bars skullcaps and crucifixes that will come into force when the school year restarts on Thursday.

Chesnot, 37, of Radio France Internationale, said: "It is a wrong and unjust law and we may die at any time."

Malbrunot, 41, who writes for Le Figaro and the regional daily newspaper Ouest France, said: "Our life is in danger and we might die at any moment if the law doesn't get banned."