The kidnappers of a United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomat in Iraq demanded the closing of the country's embassy and of an Iraqi Shiite television station in a video aired on Thursday on an Arab news network.
The video showed the diplomat, Naji Rashid al-Nuaimi standing in front of a bare wall, his body swaying nervously as the camera zoomed in and out on him.
The 28-year-old, with a light beard and mustache and wearing a grey traditional Arab robe, was not blindfolded and did not speak in the clip, which lasted only a few seconds. His hands were clasped in front of him but unbound, and no gunmen appeared.
PHOTO: AFP
Al-Jazeera television did not air any audio with the video, but said the kidnappers, from a previously unknown group calling itself the Banner of Islam, demanded the closure of the Emirates Embassy in Baghdad.
They also demanded the shutting down of Al-Fayhaa television, a Shiite-owned satellite station that is based in the southern Iraqi city of Basra but broadcasts out of a transmitting station in the UAE.
Al-Jazeera did not report whether the group threatened to kill al-Nuaimi.
Al-Nuaimi, a councilor at the embassy in Baghdad who worked distributing UAE humanitarian aid in Iraq, was snatched Tuesday night in Baghdad by gunmen who shot and killed his Sudanese driver.
Official source in UAE said that the country "is looking at these demands. The top priority for the government is the life of Mr. Naji. This kidnapping is unacceptable and unjustified."
"Mr Naji went to Iraq over two years ago to help at the UAE Embassy with the distribution of much needed humanitarian assistance to ordinary Iraqis trying to ease some of their suffering and hardship," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The hardline Sunni Arab Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq on Thursday denounced the kidnapping and called it a "crime," reminding the kidnappers of the "Emirates' humanitarian and relief support of the Iraqi people."
"Out of Islamic and humanitarian beliefs, he who helps the needy should be honored and respected," the group said in a statement on its Web site, urging the kidnappers to release al-Nuaimi.
The Emirates -- which has helped mediate the end to abductions of other foreigners in Iraqi in the past -- has said its diplomat's abduction increases its worries over the security situation in Iraq.
"This is painful," UAE Foreign Minister Sheik Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Wednesday. "We understand that the situation in Iraq is unstable. This makes us more concerned about Iraq and the necessity to unite efforts at the Arab and international levels to restore stability."
Al-Nuaimi is the latest Arab embassy worker to be kidnapped in Iraq since 2003, some by al-Qaida in Iraq to undercut support for the US-backed government among Arab countries.
In July 2005, al-Qaida in Iraq kidnapped and killed two Algerian and one Egyptian diplomat. Al-Qaida said it killed the Egyptian because Cairo intended to install a full ambassador in Iraq.
Two Moroccan embassy workers, driver Abderrahim Boualam and employee Abdelkrim el Mouhafidi, disappeared in October 2005 while driving from Jordan. Al-Qaida in Iraq said it had kidnapped the men, and in November the terror group said it had sentenced them to death. They have not been heard from since.
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