The brother of Ken Bigley - the British citizen being held hostage in Iraq - said his house in Amsterdam has been raided by Dutch intelligence agents.
Paul Bigley claimed a British official took part in the raid and material from his computer was taken away for examination. The Foreign Office has rejected his claims.
Bigley denied reports that he has had direct contact with the captors of his brother. He told Sky PNews his own personal campaign to free his brother had been hampered by the raid.
The news of the raid came after another leaflet campaign to free 62-year-old Bigley was launched in Baghdad.
The leaflet began: "We are Ken Bigley's family - his mother, brothers, wife and son. We appeal to Ken's captors to hear the plea of their Muslim brothers."
It also contains messages from several British Muslim leaders, each of whom made clear that kidnapping was not consistent with the Islamic faith.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi group claiming to have kidnapped two Indonesian women said it would free them if Jakarta released a Muslim cleric detained on suspected links to al Qaeda, Al Jazeera television reported on Saturday.
"The Islamic Army in Iraq put a condition to the Indonesian government to free Abu Bakar Bashir in return for freeing the two Indonesian hostages," the Arab channel said, quoting what it said was a statement by the group.
Six Iraqis and two Lebanese were also kidnapped by the same group, Al Jazeera said.
Bashir is accused of leading the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network. He is also suspected of having links to the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people. (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
