Hopes have been raised that British IT contractor Peter
Moore may soon be free after atwo year kidnap ordealin
Iraq.
The US military have freed a senior Shia militia leader, Laith
al-Khazali, one of the demands of Moore's kidnappers in return for
the release of Moore and his four bodyguards who have been held
captive since May 29, 2007.
The US is also expected to hand over his brother Qais
al-Khazali, the leader of the kidnapping group Asaib al-Haq, to the
Iraqi government in the next five days, despite his suspected links
to a bomb attack on a US military base in 2007 which killed five
American soldiers.
The Asaib al-Haq group is said to have agreed to renounce
violence and join the Iraqi political process, which prompted the
US and UK governments to agree to a "hostage exchange" process
which they would not normally do. The Iraqi government has told
Asaib al-Haq that it cannot join the political process while it
holds hostages, and said to the US government that the group could
not be expected to renounce violence while its leaders were still
in prison.
Mr Moore was working for US consultancy firm BearingPoint at the
time of his capture. His father Graeme told the Independent he was
please but not taking anything for granted. He said, "This is
obviously very exciting news. We have always been told that Peter
may be the first one to be released. I heard this afternoon that
this may take place within two days. The problem is that we have
heard on several occasions in the past that a deal had been done
and my son and the others were going to be freed but then this
never happened."