Australian Man Held By Iraqi Insurgents
Saturday, June 04, 2005
June 4 (AP) — Australia's top Islamic cleric has met an Australian being held hostage by Iraqi militants and said his health is holding up despite his ordeal, a Muslim representative who spoke to the cleric said Sunday.
Sheik Taj El Din al-Hilaly arrived is in Baghdad on a mission to secure the release of 63-year-old Douglas Wood, an Australian engineer who lives with his American wife in Alamo, Calif.
Wood was abducted in late April, shortly before a militant group, calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq, released a DVD on May 1 showing him pleading for Australia to withdraw it 1,400 troops from Iraq.
The Australian government has refused to bend to terrorists' demands. Ikebal Patel, from Australia's Federation of Islamic Councils, told television's Seven Network he had spoken to Al-Hilaly in Iraq on Thursday, who confirmed he had seen Wood.
"He said to me: `I've seen him eye to eye,' those were the words he used, eye to eye, it was Douglas," Patel said.
He said Al-Hilaly had said that Wood, who suffers from a heart condition requiring regular medication, was holding up well.
"Medication has been given to him so that is very welcome news," Patel said.
A specialized team of diplomats, police and military personnel from Australia is in Iraq working to secure Wood's release, but the government has given no detail of the team's work there.