The mother of Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage being held in Iraq, was tonight rushed to hospital only short time after making an appeal for her son's release.
Mr Ken Bigley in happier times
Ms Elizabeth Bigley (86), originally from Ticknock in Dublin, is understood to have collapsed at her Liverpool home as a result of stress.
Ms Bigley had made an emotional appeal for her son's life to be spared, crying as she urged his captors to show mercy.
She said: "He is only a working man who wants to support his family," she said. "Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive. His family needs him and I need him."
Earlier the brother of Mr Bigley said he hoped the family's Irish links could in some way lead to his release.
Mr Paul Bigley appealed to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to try to "bring this situation to a pleasant conclusion".
The militants holding Mr Bigley have threatened to behead him if women prisoners in US custody in Iraq are not released. They have already executed two American men taken hostage with Mr Bigley.
In a statement this afternoon, Mr Ahern said: "The situation facing Mr Bigley and his family is deeply disturbing and his thoughts and prayers were with them at this time.
"I am sure that the British authorities are doing every thing in their power to secure the release of Mr Bigley. It is my sincere hope that those efforts prove successful," he added.
Labour Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD said "no cause is advanced by the execution of Mr Ken Bigley". Mr Higgins appealed for his life to be spared.
The British and Iraqi governments said today they would not bow to the demands of militants threatening to kill British hostage Mr Ken Bigley, despite a video message from him pleading for his life.
After a day of confusion yesterday over whether one of two Iraqi women in US custody in Iraq would be freed, the interim Iraqi government said in a statement that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was not willing to allow her release.
"The government renews its call on the terrorists to release Kenneth Bigley forthwith and without condition," it said.
The statement prompted Mr Bigley's brother to accuse the US and Iraqi authorities of scuppering any chance of his release. "That was a shadow of light in a big, long, dark, damp, filthy, cold tunnel. Now this has been sabotaged," said Mr Paul Bigley.
Last Thursday, Mr Bigley and Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley were also seized by gunmen in Baghdad.
The Tawhid and Jihad group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi says it killed Armstrong and Hensley because the US military rejected its demand to free all Iraqi women from US-run prisons in Iraq.
Video footage showing the beheading of the two Americans has been posted on the Internet, and CIA officials say analysis of Armstrong's killing suggests Zarqawi himself wielded the knife.
In a separate video message released by the kidnappers, 62-year-old Mr Bigley was shown pleading for his life and appealing to British Prime Minister Tony Blair for help.
"I don't want to die. I don't deserve it," Mr Bigley said. He was wearing the same kind of orange overalls that Armstrong and Hensley were made to wear before they were killed. Mr Bigley sobbed as he said he wanted to see his family again.
"Mr Blair, I'm nothing to you, just one person in the United Kingdom with a family like you ... You can help, I know you can." But British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the government could not negotiate with hostage-takers.
"We can't get into a situation of bargaining with terrorists, because this would put many more people's lives at risk, not only in Iraq but around the world."
In a statement today, the family again appealed to Bigley's captors to free him: "You have proved to the world that you are committed and determined. Be merciful, as we know you can be."
In Bangkok, his weeping Thai wife Sombat said: "I pray for your mercy now and beg you to release him."
The US military says it holds only two female prisoners in Iraq. Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash, dubbed "Dr Germ" and "Mrs Anthrax" by US forces, are accused of working on former President Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes.
Agencies