British Hostage Appears on Arab Television

One of the five British men kidnapped in Baghdad eight months ago appeared on Arab television last night, begging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to free nine Iraqi prisoners in exchange for the Britons. “Release their people so that we can go home. It’s as simple as that," Peter Moore said in remarks dubbed into Arabic. It was the first sign of the hostages since December, writes the Times of London.

Moore, a computer specialist working at Iraq's ministry of finance, was seized along with four bodyguards by a gang of about 40 gunmen of the so-called Shia Islamic Resistance in Iraq. Experts said Moore was forced to make the statement, although he appeared well-fed and in good health. Both the British and Iraqi governments condemned the "parading" of the hostage on television. (More hostage stories.)