When does this latest deadline end?
Here is the latest.
Secret talks to free French journalists
By Colin Randall in Paris
The Telegraph (UK)
(Filed: 01/09/2004)
France intensified diplomatic efforts yesterday to save the lives of two journalists seized by kidnappers in Iraq, but reacted with extreme caution to a report that they were on the point of being freed.
Hopes for the release of Georges Malbrunot, 41, and Christian Chesnot, 37, rose as the deadline set by the Islamic Army in Iraq and extended by 24 hours, neared expiry last night. However, Iraq's leading organisation of Sunni Muslims confessed to fears that the men would be executed.
The report that the journalists would be freed "imminently" was broadcast by the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite channel. The League for the Defence of Iraqi People's Rights previously claimed to have received an assurance that the men would be spared because of France's "honourable" anti-war position.
The kidnappers have demanded the withdrawal of a ban on Muslim girls wearing headscarves at school, due to take effect with tomorrow's end of the summer holidays.
President Jacques Chirac's government is adamant that there can be no question of withdrawing the law, but extraordinary diplomatic activity, some of it acknowledged by France to be taking place "in secret", has followed confirmation that the men are hostages.