Arafat to try for Bigley’s release

DUBLIN – Palestinian president Yasser Arafat is to lobby for the release of Kenneth Bigley, the British engineer held hostage in Iraq, Irish and Palestinian officials said yesterday.

“President Arafat officially asked me to talk to all Iraqi political forces and friends … We hope to convince kidnappers to release all foreign hostages including Kenneth Bigley,” said Palestinian Telecommunications Minister Azzam al-Ahmad. Arafat’s intervention came after an Irish politician wrote to the Palestinian leader asking him to help free Bigley.Michael D Higgins, foreign affairs spokesman for Ireland’s Labour Party, said he wrote to Arafat via his representatives in Dublin after talking to Bigley’s brother Paul.In the letter, Higgins stressed Bigley’s mother’s Irish roots and the fact Ireland has maintained a neutral stance on the US-led war in Iraq.”Yesterday (the representative) rang me to confirm that president Yasser Arafat had sent him a letter …saying he would do everything he could,” Higgins told Reuters.- Nampa-ReutersArafat’s intervention came after an Irish politician wrote to the Palestinian leader asking him to help free Bigley.Michael D Higgins, foreign affairs spokesman for Ireland’s Labour Party, said he wrote to Arafat via his representatives in Dublin after talking to Bigley’s brother Paul.In the letter, Higgins stressed Bigley’s mother’s Irish roots and the fact Ireland has maintained a neutral stance on the US-led war in Iraq.”Yesterday (the representative) rang me to confirm that president Yasser Arafat had sent him a letter …saying he would do everything he could,” Higgins told Reuters.- Nampa-Reuters