Relatives of two French reporters held hostage in Iraq waited anxiously on Wednesday for news of their fate after a deadline for Paris to scrap a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools apparently passed without incident. French President Jacques Chirac again rejected the demands by militants holding Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot that the law be revoked, as Foreign Minister Michel Barnier drummed up a chorus of Arab support for France's position. Tension rose as the reported deadline neared on Tuesday night, but was replaced by confusion after an Arab League official said he believed it had been extended by 48 hours starting on Monday, not 24 hours as previously reported. That theory appeared to be strengthened by the absence of a new message from the kidnappers on Tuesday night. The apparent reprieve was not enough to console friends and relatives of the two men, who disappeared on Aug. 20 on their way from Baghdad to Najaf. Chesnot is a reporter for Radio France Internationale and Malbrunot writes for the dailies Le Figaro and Ouest France.
| Thought that being French they could go anywhere without security, eh? |
"The first week we were less worried and then on Saturday, we really began to be very concerned," Bernard Malbrunot, brother of one of the hostages, told France 2 television. He was referring to a video of the two men issued on Saturday by the Islamic Army in Iraq, a shadowy militant group, in which it gave France 48 hours to revoke the controversial ban on girls wearing headscarves in school. Arabic television station Al Jazeera quoted a statement on Monday as saying the militants had extended the deadline by 24 hours. The two reporters said in a video aired on Monday that they would be killed unless France retracted the headscarf ban. "Certainly the hostages are alive -- we saw them briefly yesterday (in the video) -- but I think the mood and our morale have considerably worsened," said Jean de Belot, editor-in-chief of Le Figaro. Barnier returned to Egypt on Tuesday night after meeting King Abdullah in Jordan on a whistlestop tour of Middle East capitals designed to garner support.
| Yeah, that'll do a lot of good. |
Islamic militant group Hamas joined groups including French Muslims opposed to the headscarf ban, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and aides to anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in urging freedom for the journalists. The kidnappings stunned France, which opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and also objected to pre-war sanctions. Giant photos of Chesnot and Malbrunot were projected on the front of Paris town hall, while supporters held demonstrations of solidarity across the country.
| Of course, no word about actually doing something, like the Foreign Legion, or a special detachment of the French special forces, or a sneaky intel group. |
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