Hostage Bigley in plea to Blair

A videotape posted on Islamic website tonight purportedly showed a man who identified himself as British hostage Kenneth Bigley pleading for Prime Minister Tony Blair to help save his life.

“To Mr Blair, my name is Ken Bigley, from Liverpool,” the blindfolded man said in the videotape.

“I think this is possibly my last chance,” the speaker said in the grainy video. “I don’t want to die.

“Please free female prisoners held in Iraqi prisons.”

Bigley and two American hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad last week. The militant group of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Tawhid and Jihad, said it kidnapped the three and threatened to kill them if all Iraqi women prisoners are not released.

The Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, were killed. Armstrong’s body was found in Baghdad on Monday and Hensley’s body was identified today.

“Please, please release the female prisoners that are held in Iraqi prisons,” the speaker said.

“Please help them. I need you to help me Mr Blair because you are the only person now on God’s Earth that I can speak to. Please, please help me see my wife, who cannot go on without me.”