French journalists ’not with abductors’

Two French journalists who had been taken hostage in Iraq are no longer in the hands of their abductors, French Culture and Communications Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has said.

"We know that they are alive and no longer in the hands of the abductors who had held them," he told journalists on Thursday in Perpignan, southern France.

The editor of the French publication Le Figaro told Aljazeera that the hostages had been handed over to another group which supported their release.

Meanwhile, hopes were high through Thursday that the two French journalists held hostage for almost two weeks would be freed after France declared that the men were safe and well.

"I believe that we can hope for a happy end," French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin told France 2 public television. "The indications that we have this evening are going in the right direction.

Speculation

The French media was abuzz with speculation about the fate of the Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who were captured by the self-styled Islamic Army in Iraq demanding that France lift a controversial ban on the Islamic headscarf in state schools.

"According to the information we have received, which is being studied with the greatest care, the two journalists are alive and in good health and being well treated," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in Amman on Thursday afternoon.

Diplomatic lobbying

France embarked on a frantic round of diplomatic lobbying in the Arab world seeking help to secure the release of the journalists since they went missing on 20 August.

The hostages had warned in a video shown on Aljazeera television that they faced death if France did not revoke the law, but Paris vowed to stand its ground, saying it must protect the country’s strictly secular traditions.

"Tomorrow is prayer day, it’s Friday, it’s a time for gathering together, for reflection," de Villepin said, hinting that they may be released on the Muslim day of prayer.

Barnier shuttled between Arab capitals while a delegation from the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) flew in to Baghdad on a lightning mission then departed after saying they were reassured about the fate of the journalists following talks with influential religious leaders.

"We leave with confidence and full of hope," delegation chief Abd Allah Zekhri told AFP after talks with the influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), one of Iraq’s leading Muslim authorities who have helped mediate previous hostage releases in Iraq.

"The kidnappers wish to free them but they do not know how to do it because they are afraid about the Americans and also that the hostages could fall into the hands of another group. These are the obstacles to freeing them."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/56E2F24E-64E5-4114-8A49-9A75A08C76C7.htm