Libyan leader Colonel Gadafy has appealed for the release of British hostage Mr Kenneth Bigley.
Colonel Gadafy, whose son Saif was approached last week by Mr Bigley's brother, Paul, in a bid to open new lines of communication with the captors, today said that he was appealing for Mr Bigley's release at the request of his family.
"I launch an appeal to the hostage's kidnappers because his family has turned to us," said the Libyan leader. "We ask them to free this poor Briton."
Mr Paul Bigley has today urged people to take part in a demonstration against the war in Iraq. Mr Bigley, who lives in Amsterdam, called on the public to join the march in London later this month as a show of support for his brother.
He was speaking as he prepared to address a rally of the Stop the War Coalition in Liverpool this Friday.
He said: "For Ken's sake and for the sake of everyone in Iraq, I ask you to make your feelings known to our Government, to protest and to join the demonstration in London. The more people raise their voices, the safer we will all be."
Paul Bigley will address the meeting via a telephone link and will be joined by Ms Rose Gentle, mother of Gordon Gentle, a teenage soldier killed on duty in Iraq earlier this year and Mr Azmat Begg, father of the Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has told Ken Bigley's hostage takers that the British Government would listen carefully to any message.
At a press conference on a long-planned visit to Iraq, Mr Straw said: "We can't enter into negotiations, but obviously if the hostage takers have a message for us we will listen carefully to that message."
He vowed that terrorists would not stop Iraq's first democratic elections.