BAGHDAD, July 26 (AFP) - The Egyptian diplomat kidnapped in Iraq was released on Monday after his captors said they were impressed by his character and religious faith.
"I am free and already at the Egyptian interests section in Baghdad," Mohamed Mamdouh Kotb, the third ranking diplomat at the Egyptian mission, told AFP by telephone.
"I thank God and all those who worked for my release here in Iraq and Egypt."
A short time before Kotb confirmed his release, the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera played a video apparently showing him being freed and even giving a hug to one of his kidnappers.
Al-Jazeera quoted one of the kidnappers as saying they "decided to free Mohamed Mamdouh Kotb because of the religious faith and the moral qualities he possesses."
He added that his group had "refused to accept enormous sums of money" in exchange for the diplomat`s freedom.
Kotb was grabbed in Baghdad`s Hathriya district after going out to attend evening prayers on Friday by masked men calling themselves members of the Lions of Allah.
It was the first time a diplomat was snatched in Iraq as part of a wave of kidnappings by insurgents aimed at pressuring the US-backed interim government and forcing foreign troops and interests out of the country.
The diplomat was purportedly kidnapped in response to what the group described as Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif`s offer to provide the Iraqi government with security expertise.
Cairo reacted to the kidnapping by saying it would "absolutely not" consider sending troops to the strife-torn country.
However, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had called on Egypt not to give in to the demands of the kidnappers.
His government was upset over a decision by Manila to withdraw its humanitarian force from Iraq a month early to save the life of a Filipino hostage.
Kotb was the second Egyptian to be taken hostage last week after truck driver Mohammed Ali Sanad, who remains captive.