French Muslim Group Calls For Day Of Prayer For Iraq Hostages

PARIS, Sept 2 (AFP) - A French Muslim organisation called on imams to make Friday a national day of prayer for the safety of two French journalists being held hostage in Iraq.
The Union of Islamic Organisations of France said that it was asking imans "to beg God for mercy so that the lives of our compatriots, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, are spared."
If the men are released, imams should give thanks, it added in a statement.
The group's leader, Fouad Alaoui, is part of a delegation of French Muslim leaders which has flown to Baghdad to try to secure the men's release.
Chesnot and Malbrunot and their Syrian driver were kidnapped on August 20. Their kidnappers have demanded that France repeal a controversial law banning Islamic headscarves in school with other conspicuous religious insignia.