Muslim cleric bids to save Australian hostage

Australia’s most senior Muslim cleric dashed to Baghdad in a last-ditch attempt today to win the release of an Australian engineer after asking the kidnappers for mercy via Arab TV, arguing that most Australians opposed the war in Iraq.

Militants who seized Douglas Wood, aged 63, an Australian citizen and a resident of California, released a videotape that was broadcast on Friday demanding that Australia start pulling its troops out of Iraq within 72 hours, though they didn’t say what would happen if the demand was not met.

Sheikh Taj El Din Al Hilaly, Australia’s mufti since 1989, gave an interview to Arab television network al-Jazeera urging the militants to release Wood. The cleric offered to mediate in the crisis.

It was not immediately clear when the 72-hour deadline expired or whether it was extended.

Meanwhile the family of Mr Wood today offered to make a generous charitable donation to the people of Iraq to secure his freedom.

“This is not a ransom; there has been no demand for a ransom,” his brother Malcolm Wood told reporters in Canberra.

“We would hope to make a significant gesture to help secure Douglas’s release,” he added. “The family offers to make a generous charitable donation to help the people of Iraq.”

Malcolm Wood said the donation offer was being sent with Australia’s most senior Muslim cleric, who is heading to Baghdad in a last-ditch attempt to win Mr Wood’s release.