Spare my friend's life, Muslim urges American's captors

A letter signed “The Believer” has urged militants to spare American hostage Paul Johnson as the 72-hour deadline set by his captors was due to end today, saying killing him would break Islamic law.

“I will curse you in all my prayers” if he is harmed, it warned.

The letter was posted on Wednesday night on websites where al-Qaida supporters and other militants leave messages, and aired on Saudi-owned television network, al-Arabiya.

Meanwhile, a senior Saudi official in the United States directly familiar with the investigation said yesterday that US and Saudi officials have had few promising leads in their search for Johnson, who was kidnapped on Saturday by a group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The organisation is believed to be headed by Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, the top al-Qaida figure in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi official said there had been no communications from the kidnappers except for a video and written statement they posted on Tuesday on a website. In the statement, Johnson’s captors threatened to kill Johnson if al-Qaida prisoners in Saudi Arabia were not freed within 72 hours.

The 72 hours ends some time today. The kidnappers did not specify what time the countdown began or when it ends. Saudi newspapers quoted unidentified government officials as saying the kingdom would not give in to the demands of terrorists.

The letter on Wednesday, signed by Saad al-Mu’men – a pseudonym meaning “Saad The Believer” – identified the writer as a Saudi friend of Johnson’s and said he had bestowed his protection as a Muslim on the American hostage.

If Johnson is harmed, it read: “I will never forgive you. I will curse you in all my prayers.” It pointed to a saying by Islam’s prophet Muhammad: “If they were granted (Muslim) protection, then killing or taking their money or harming them is forbidden.”

The Saudi official in the United States, who spoke to The Associated Press, said the FBI had sent a team of about 20 specialists in hostage rescue, hostage negotiations, profiling and other skills who were working directly with Saudi officials.

More than 15,000 Saudi officers have been conducting a city-wide search of Riyadh, going door to door in some neighbourhoods considered hotbeds for terrorist sympathies and conducting surveillance in other parts of the city.

“We are even using the fire department, for instance, because they have knowledge of their neighbourhoods, and districts,” the official said. More than 1,200 Saudi homes had been searched by last night, the official said.

The Saudi official also said the chief suspect in Johnson’s kidnapping, al-Moqrin, was the main suspect in the recent shooting of a German citizen and an American.

Johnson, 49, had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade.

His son, also called Paul, made a plea yesterday for his father’s safe return.

In the letter, al-Mu’men said Johnson – who works for the US defence giant Lockheed Martin on targeting and night vision systems for Apache helicopters - had expressed opposition to US foreign policy and an interest in converting to Islam.

“He was interested in reading Koran translations … I swear to God that once he said to me in public – in a popular restaurant in Riyadh, ‘I hate my country’s politics. I am interested in Islam. If I convert, I will go and live with my wife in East Asia’.” Johnson’s wife is Thai.

Al-Mu’men said he was a colleague of Johnson but did not give any details about his job. He said he often invited Johnson for dinner and gave the American books on Islam as presents.

About 100 people gathered in Johnson's home town last night to pray for his safe return.

Friends and relatives sang Amazing Grace and God Bless America as they held candles and small flags at a vigil in Eagleswood, New Jersey, where the engineer grew up.

“Your love, your prayers and your support are appreciated,” his niece Angle Roork said at the vigil.

Another 200 people attended a similar vigil in Florida’s Brevard County, where Johnson lived in the early 1980s.