British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that the government is taking seriously a claim by Iraqi militants that one of the five British hostages they are holding has committed suicide.
"Clearly this is a very distressing development. We are taking this very seriously. There are many people working behind the scenes trying to find a solution," Brown said in a statement.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported Saturday that a videotaped statement it obtained in Iraq says that one of the five British hostages, captured by a Shiite militant group in Baghdad last year, killed himself on May 25.
The Britons, including an information technology consultant and four guards, were kidnapped from the Iraqi Finance Ministry building in Baghdad in a raid on May 29, 2007.
Brown, who had just finished his visit to Iraq on Saturday, said he discussed the issue in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, urging the militants to release the hostages "immediately and unconditionally."
British Foreign Office on Saturday refused to comment on the video. "There is no independent verification of the claims in this video, therefore we are not going to comment on its veracity," said a spokesman.
The video, available on the Times Web site, shows a picture of a man identified as Jason wearing a football shirt, with a title of "Intihar", Arabic for suicide.
In the statement, the militants, who call themselves "The Shiite Islamic Resistance in Iraq," blames the lack of efficiency and seriousness by the British government for the death of the hostage.
"This procrastination and foot-dragging and lack of seriousness on the part of the British government has prolonged their psychological deterioration, pushing one of them, Jason, to commit suicide on 25/5/2008," the statement says.
According to the Sunday Times, another hostage, named as Alan, appeals in the same video for the British government to release Iraqi prisoners, "particularly female and religious prisoners," so that the held Britons could be freed.
"I would like for the British government to please hurry," says the pale-looking Alan against a blank wall. "Please hurry and try and get this resolved as soon as possible," he said.
"Physically, I'm not doing well...Psychologically, I'm doing a lot worse. I want to see my family again," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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