Leading Sunni Muslims Appeal For Release Of French Journalists

DOHA, Aug 28 (AFP) - The main Sunni Muslim religious organisation appealed Saturday for the release of two French journalists seized by an Islamic militant group in Iraq demanding France rescind a law banning Islamic headscarves in schools.
"In the name of the Committee of Ulemas we urge the kidnappers to release the two journalists," said Sheikh Abdessatar Abdelzhawad, a member of the committee, speaking on the Arabic satellite television news channel Al-Jazeera.
He simultaneously appealed to France to reconsider its decision to ban prominent religious insignia, including Muslim headscraves, in French state schools.
Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were seized by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, which gave France 48 hours to meet its demand to rescind the headscarf law, Al-Jazeera reported Saturday.
The French legislation, passed in March amid controversy and some overseas criticism, prohibits any ostentatious religious insignia, including Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, in state schools and universities.