French Hostages Plead For Lives

A French journalist being held hostage along with a colleague in Iraq called on French President Jacques Chirac to give in to militants' demand to rescind a headscarf ban to save their lives, according to a video shown late Monday on the Al-Jazeera television station.

The video was broadcast hours after France insisted it would go ahead with the ban on Muslim head scarves in schools, standing firm against scrapping the law just hours before a deadline set by the captors.

"I appeal to the French people to go to the streets ... because our lives are threatened," journalist Georges Malbrunot said in English on the video. Speaking in French, fellow hostage Christian Chesnot called on Chirac and his government to rescind the ban, according to the newsreader, who interpreted his remarks into Arabic.

The video showed the two unshaven men seated together in front of a gray, mud wall with a small window above them.

In a video broadcast Saturday, a militant group calling itself "The Islam Army in Iraq," gave the French government 48 hours to overturn the ban, but mentioned no threat against the men's lives. However, a militant group with a similar name was believed to have killed an Italian freelance journalist last week after Italy's government rejected a demand that it withdraw its 3,000 soldiers in Iraq.

Al-Jazeera said the group had extended its deadline, which would have ended late Monday, by 24 hours.

Earlier Monday, the Chirac government held firm in its refusal to rescind the ban. "The law will be applied" when school doors open Thursday, government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said.

Muslim leaders at home and abroad rallied around France with statements of support and calls on the shadowy Islamic Army of Iraq to free the two reporters. Two marches in Paris converged on a square near the Eiffel Tower, with hundreds of people chanting "Free the hostages."

Before the videos, the last time anyone heard from the French journalists was Aug. 19.

The kidnapping has been a shock to many in France, which opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and has pursued generally pro-Arab policies.

"The French have discovered that having opposed the Iraq war does not make them immune from the wrath of Islamists," said Bruno Tertrais at the Foundation for Strategic Research.

"It didn't take an Islamic world specialist to know that we could be a target because of this law," he said.

The measure's passage in March triggered protests by Muslims, as well as turban-wearing Sikhs, around the world, who argued it is discriminatory.

While the law bans all "conspicuous" religious apparel, such as Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, it is really aimed at Muslim head scarves in public schools. Many French fear their secular nation, which has the biggest Islamic population in western Europe with 5 million Muslims, is under threat from a rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism.

Still, Muslim activists in the Middle East appealed to the hostage-takers Monday and offered praise for France's anti-war stance on Iraq.

"Because of France's distinguished position in rejecting the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq, we appeal to the people who kidnapped the journalists to spare their lives," said the Islamic Action Front, Jordan's largest opposition group.

Support came from inside Iraq, too.

"We ... condemn this abduction and any other abduction because of our religion and holy Quran verses advising us to fight those who fought us, and not to assault those who did not fight," said Sheik Ahmed al-Samara'ei, an official with the Muslim Scholars Association, a Sunni group presumed to have links to insurgents.

In Beirut, Lebanon's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, renewed his religious edict against the kidnapping of foreigners and called for the release of the two French reporters.

"The kidnapping (of foreigners) runs contrary to the Quranic Islamic principles," Fadlallah said in his edict, faxed to The Associated Press.

In Egypt to lead diplomatic efforts to free the journalists, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier called the demand to drop the French law "incomprehensible."

However, there were signs of anger when it was passed, including an ominous message for France six months ago from the top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. An audiotape with a voice attributed to Ayman al-Zawahri, aired Feb. 24 on Al-Arabiya television, said the law on head scarves "is another example of the Crusader's malice which Westerners have against Muslims."

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said the hostage crisis showed France cannot escape terrorists with a passive Iraq policy.

"France will not be spared," Allawi said. "Governments that decide to remain on the defensive will be the next targets of terrorists."

The French Foreign Ministry called Allawi's comments "unacceptable."

Iraq was not really the issue, said Tertrais at the Foundation for Strategic Research.

While France stayed out of Iraq, it plays a leading role in fighting terrorist groups by sharing intelligence with other nations and it has hundreds of special forces soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

"Had France taken a different stance on Iraq, Islamists would have had two reasons to target France," Tertrais said.