Caged hostage Bigley calls Blair a liar

SHACKLED and caged, Iraq hostage Ken Bigley wept as he called British Prime Minister Tony Blair a liar in a new video issued by his kidnappers last night.

The 62-year-old’s family expressed their relief at seeing Mr Bigley alive but renewed their pleas for his captors to show mercy.

Mr Bigley, from Liverpool, was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, similar to those worn by the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, in the video screened on Arab TV station al-Jazeera.

The black and yellow banner of the Tawhid wal Jihad militant terror group, which has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, was seen hanging on the wall behind Mr Bigley.

He was kneeling behind bars in the small cage and bound by metal chains as he spoke.

He refers to Mr Blair in the footage and said: “He doesn’t care about me. I’m just one, just one person.

“Please, please, help me. I’m begging you, I’m begging you to speak, to push.”

The hostage is then seen to break down.

The announcer said Mr Bigley claimed Mr Blair was lying when he said there were negotiations being carried out to save his life.

“Mr Blair says he won’t negotiate with terrorists,” Mr Bigley said.

The announcer also quoted Mr Bigley as saying that “they don’t want to kill me. They could have killed me a week ago, two weeks ago.”

He also stressed his captors’ demands that female Iraqi prisoners held by the United States in Iraq be released should be met.

Ken Bigley’s message comes a week after a previous video appeal and raises hopes that he could be released.

His brother Paul said: “He looks unwell but he’s alive and he’s not a broken man.”

Paul Bigley added: “He is obviously an afraid man and he is worn out. His faculties are all there but he is worn out.

“I think he’s built up a sort of rapport with these guys such that they are not exactly having a drink or playing cards together but they are talking sense together and that’s the reason why the man’s alive.”

A spokeswoman for Downing Street said they would not be commenting on the latest video appeal by Mr Bigley.

“It goes without saying that we are in contact with the family,” she added.

Paul Bigley said earlier that a communique from the Middle East had also offered the family new hope.

The communique, posted last night on the website Al Qalah.com, claimed that Mr Bigley would be freed imminently, but warned others would be kidnapped and beheaded if they failed to withdraw from Iraq.

News of the communique followed Mr Blair’s assurance that the Government is attempting to make contact with the Tawhid wal Jihad group.

The Prime Minister said: “The difficulty is that we are trying to make contact with this particular group - these are outside people, they are not Iraqis - and we are doing everything we possibly can.”

New footage of Mr Bigley emerged hours after two Italian hostages were released.

Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, arrived home last night after spending three weeks in captivity.

It was claimed today that French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, seized almost six weeks ago, could also soon be released.