KOBEYAT, Lebanon, Aug 4 (AFP) - Around 300 people including Muslim and Christian leaders gathered Wednesday in this northern Lebanese town to call for the release of Lebanese businessman Antoine Antoun who is held hostage in Iraq.
Antoun and his Iraqi driver were seized last Saturday by a gang of around 50 armed men who invaded the factory he had been running in Baghdad for the past two years.
During the protest outside Kobeyat municipal offices in Akkar region, several speakers called for the religious Committee of Ulemas in Iraq to "carry out a good-offices mission to obtain his release".
In a statement, residents of Akkar recalled that they had demonstrated against the war in Iraq and the American occupation, and they called on Antoun's kidnappers to respond by freeing their compatriot.
Antoun's kidnappers have contacted one of his workers in Baghdad to give their conditions for his release, a relative told AFP on Tuesday.
A former Lebanese minister, Fawzi Hobeish, said the kidnappers wanted a ransom payment. He gave no amount.
The former minister, who like Antoun comes from the Akkar, said: "All the current contacts show there is a ransom demand and that the kidnapping has no political element."