LONDON, Aug 13 (AFP) - A spokesman for Moqtada Sadr on Friday called on the kidnappers of a British journalist in the southern Iraqi city of Basra to release him immediately, saying the militia leader would do what he could to end the abduction.
Kidnappers have released a video tape threatening to kill Sunday Telegraph reporter James Brandon, 23, unless US forces withdraw within 24 hours from the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad.
"He has to be released now," Sadr`s spokesman Sheikh Salah al Obeidi told BBC radio in London.
"They have to release him, the people who have detained this man," he said. "We are not responsible for this action."
At the same time a top Sadr aide in Najaf said that he had lodged a "formal" request for Brandon`s release.
Hours before Brandon was snatched, a shadowy Shiite group warned that it would kill all those cooperating with British troops in Iraq, in apparent retaliation for the US-led assault on Najaf to the north.
But it was not immediately clear whether the group was involved in the kidnapping, or whether it has any direct links to Sadr`s Mehdi Army, which has been locked in fierce fighting with US and Iraqi government troops in Najaf.
Hotel employees in Basra told AFP earlier on Friday how Brandon had been carried off the night before by around 20 masked gunmen, some disguised as police.
"We do not accept such actions," Sadr`s spokesman told BBC radio.
"Journalists are our brothers, our friends, and they reflect our opinions and they convey our voices to all of the world."
"I will do my best in order to stop this unacceptable problem," he said. "I am sure that the people who have kidnapped this journalist are trying to make our picture black in front of all of the world."