Wood brothers appeal to kidnappers

Two Australian brothers made an impassioned plea on Arabic television today for the release of their elder brother being held hostage in Iraq, saying he was ill and his abduction would not persuade Australia to withdraw troops.

The appeal came hours after the Australian government made a similar plea for the freedom of 63-year-old engineer Douglas Wood, a Californian resident with an American wife.

A leader of the Iraqi communit in Australia said the family should not rule out paying a ransom despite the government’s objections.

The brothers, Malcolm and Vernon, insisted the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network receive their plea, recorded in Canberra, before other media outlets in the hope the exclusive deal would improve the chance of their message reaching their brother’s captors.

“We are extremely concerned for Douglas’ welfare,” Malcolm Wood said. “He has a serious heart condition.”

“In his current stressed environment, without medication, his health could fail him altogether,” he added.

Malcolm Wood also said his brother’s captivity would serve no purpose.

“We firmly believe that Douglas’ captivity will make no difference to the policy of the Australian government,” he said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made his plea through with al-Jazeera in New York after an Australian task force arrived in Baghdad to work for the release of the hostage.

Wood was shown in a video released on Sunday pleading with US, British and Australian leaders to pull their troops out of Iraq. He is shown sitting on the floor, his hands cuffed, flanked by two masked insurgents brandishing automatic weapons.

Downer said Wood had been working to improve the lives of Iraqis for more than a year.

“We would appeal to the people who have taken him hostage to release him and not to involve a man who is just providing assistance to the Iraqi people, not to involve him in politics,” Downer told the network.

Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out paying any ransom or meeting the insurgents’ demands to withdraw Australia troops from Iraq, but has said the government would do all it can to secure Wood’s freedom.

But Dr. Mohammed al-Salami, the Australian representative of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution – a Shiite political party in Iraq – advised Wood’s family not to rule out paying a ransom.

“They have to use every channel available,” he said, adding that the family should also enlist the help of senior Muslim clerics in Iraq to speak out against the kidnapping and urge Wood’s release.

Al-Salami said he was “disgusted” by the insurgents.

“We have been consistent right from the beginning that we totally condemn any act of violence or terrorism upon the allied forces as well as the innocent people (of Iraq),” he told The Associated Press.

“They come (to Iraq) to build our country and they should be protected, not harmed,” he added.

In an interview in March last year, Douglas Wood said he did not fear for his life in Iraq and did not like to travel with large security contingents.

“My own particular analysis is one is better off being low key,” Wood said in the interview broadcast by Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio today.

“If I don’t look like I’m a bloody thug or am protected by a super convoy, I’m less likely to be apprehended.”

The task force of Australian defence personnel, police and diplomats arrived in Baghdad late on Tuesday. Downer said it is believed that Wood was kidnapped from his Baghdad apartment or on his way to work.

“We’re making a very big effort to (get Wood out alive); so are our friends and allies and so are the Iraqis,” Downer told ABC radio.