Iraqi girl appeals for Bigley's release

12.45pm

LONDON - An 11-year-old Iraqi girl who lost a leg and 17 members of her family during last year's war has urged kidnappers to release hostage Kenneth Bigley, who has been held for nine days under threat of death.

Zeynab Hamid Taresh, who is in Britain to have an artificial leg fitted, said on Saturday the plight of the 62-year-old engineer reminded her of seeing kidnappers seize two of her school friends on the streets of Iraq's second city Basra.

"I want them to release him so he can return to his family, just like I want my friends to be able to return to their families," she told reporters.

Taresh survived a US-British bombing raid in March 2003 which killed her mother, two brothers and another 14 members of her extended family. She was badly injured and had her right leg amputated.

A British journalist working in Iraq, Lee Gordon, brought her to London with the consent of her family and helped organise her treatment. She was fitted with a prosthetic limb in July and has been undergoing rehabilitation in Britain since then.

Earlier this week, Gordon explained to the girl the plight of Bigley, held hostage in Iraq by militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who have already beheaded two US hostages.

"When she heard of Ken Bigley's story she said she wanted to do something to help," Gordon told Reuters.

He spoke to Bigley's brother Paul, who asked if she would be willing to make a televised appeal for his brother's release.

Taresh agreed and was due to speak to Arabic television station Al Jazeera later on Saturday in the hope that the kidnappers would be watching, Gordon said.

The girl, who walks with a distinct limp and is still getting used to her new limb, said the hostage crisis had rekindled memories of seeing her own friends abducted.

Speaking through a translator, she described how, shortly after she had left hospital in Basra following her amputation, men had seized two of her school friends and bundled them into a car. They have not been seen since, Gordon said.

Bigley's abduction has dominated media coverage in Britain this week, spawning a host of appeals for mercy from his family, the government and leaders of the country's 1.8-million-strong Muslim population.

Paul Bigley has been particularly vocal, pleading for his brother's life and urging Prime Minister Tony Blair to do more to help.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq