Palestinian officials denounce kidnapping of journalists

PALESTINIAN officials yesterday denounced a militant group that has demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the United States in exchange for two kidnapped Fox journalists.

Khaled Abu Hilal, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, said the kidnapping of Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, of Washington, DC, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, of New Zealand, harmed Palestinian interests. “We were shocked at their demands because we don’t need a new door of hostility opened with the US,” he said.

The kidnappers released a video on Wednesday showing the two sitting cross-legged on the floor of a dark apartment. The journalists said they were being treated well and Mr Wiig called for those working on his behalf to exert pressure on the Palestinian authorities.

In a statement attached to the video, a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades railed against the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and characterised them as a war against Islam. It made no demands of Israel.

The kidnappers demanded that Muslim prisoners in US jails be released within three days in exchange for the hostages. The group did not say what would happen if the deadline passes.

Peter Rider, a New Zealand diplomat sent to oversee efforts to release Wiig, said New Zealand had no new information about the kidnappers and had not made contact with them.

The State Department has said it would not negotiate with the kidnappers and New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark took the same position.