DUBAI, Jan 25 (AFP) - Al-Jazeera television aired a videotape on Tuesday showing what it said was a US hostage who allegedly worked for American forces in Iraq urging Arab leaders to secure his release.
The bearded man, wearing a black and cream coloured shirt, was identified by the Qatar-based news channel as Roy Hallums.
The name corresponded to that of an American who was abducted in Iraq last November 1.
One of Hallums' two daughters, who lives in the US state of California, has created a website in his name (at http://royhallums.4t.com) in which the family appeals for help to secure his release.
Hallums, who is being held by an armed group in Iraq, called in the video on Arab leaders, particularly Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, to help free him, Al-Jazeera said, its announcer speaking over the man's statement.
The hostage, who "said he was working for US forces in Iraq", according to Al-Jazeera, was visibly nervous as he spoke, a gun to his head as he sat cross-legged on the ground forcefully rubbing his hands together.
On December 18, the US embassy in Baghdad released the name of an American hostage seized on November 1 in the Iraqi capital and appealed for his release.
A spokesman then identified the man as Roy Hallum, 56, who was kidnapped among a group of six people from the office of the Saudi Arabian Trading and Contracting Co (SATCO) in Baghdad's Al-Mansur district.
The hostage "is not addressing (US) President (George W.) Bush because he does not expect him to respond" to his request, Al-Jazeera said, adding the video was distributed in Baghdad.
It did not provide other details or identify the captors.
Hallums was seized last November with a Filipino accountant, a Nepalese and three Iraqis, all of whom, except the Filipino, have since been released.
On the website created by Hallums' daughter Carrie, she says he had "lived in another country nearby -- that is somewhat safer -- for many years" and she had been "shocked to hear he was kidnapped and living in Baghdad."
The family calls on the web page for contributions to a "Free Roy Foundation" it has started to campaign for his release.
About 20 foreigners seized since the hostage crisis began in Iraq in April 2003 remain missing. Militant groups have announced the killing of more than 30 foreign hostages but in some cases the authenticity of their claims has been questioned.
Other hostages have been freed, most recently eight Chinese men whose captors had demanded that Beijing ban its citizens from traveling to Iraq.
The kidnappers from the Movement of the Islamic Resistance Nuamaan Brigades said China, which opposed the US-led war on Iraq, had promised not to send any more of its nationals to the country in return for the release of the eight.
01/25/2005 16:44 GMT - AFP