BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US hostage pleads for Arab help

It's quite apparent that Mr. Hallums knows the real truth about the Bush Administration...

--ryan




US Hostage Pleads for Arab Help

A US citizen held hostage in Iraq has asked Arab leaders to help save him from being killed in an undated video released on Tuesday.

"I ask that Arab leaders help me in this situation so I can be released as quickly as possible from this definite death," said Roy Hallums.

Mr Hallums was seized in Baghdad on 1 November last year.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged to intervene to help free an engineer also kidnapped in Iraq.

Plea for help

In the video, Mr Hallums looked gaunt and spoke slowly and said his health was poor.

"I'm not asking for any help from President [George W] Bush because I know of his selfishness and unconcern for those that have been pushed into this hellhole," Mr Hallums said.

"I am asking for help of President Muammar Gaddafi, because he's known for helping those who are suffering."

Mr Hallums has been missing since he and a Philippine citizen, Roberto Tarongoy, were taken from the Mansour district of Baghdad, where he was working as a contractor for a Saudi food contracting company.

Mr Hallums was seen against a dark interior with a gun pointed to his head. He was wearing civilian clothing.

A video released on Monday showed an Egyptian hostage, Ibrahim Mohammed Ismail, being shot dead by his captors on an Iraqi street.

Brazil hostage

President Lula's announcement that he would try to help the release engineer Joao Jose Vasconcelos Jr, 55, comes after the Brazilian disappeared on 19 January following an ambush in northern Iraq.

Relatives and colleagues criticised the government for not doing enough to help.

A newspaper report quoting government advisers says Mr Lula believes Brazil should speak out more firmly against the kidnapping, particularly as the government did not back the war in Iraq.

Brazil has already sent an envoy to the Middle East to help in the negotiations.

Al-Jazeera television showed a videotape on 22 January from a militant group claiming to be holding Mr Vasconcelos.

The tape did not show the hostage, but displayed his ID card.

The militants said the ambush was carried out as a joint attack between the Mujahideen Brigades and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army.

The video included no threats or demands.

Mr Vasconcelos worked for the Sao Paulo-based Constructora Norberto Odebrecht SA and was employed at a power station near Beiji.




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4205569.stm

Published: 2005/01/25 20:01:03 GMT

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