UK seeks release of Iraq hostages

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Britain has appealed for the release of five hostages held in Iraq on the anniversary of their kidnapping in Baghdad.

The five, along with two Iraqis, were taken from a government building in the war-torn capital city last May.

"It has been a long and extremely difficult year for these men's families, who only wish to have their loved ones back home, safe from their ordeal," Ambassador Christopher Prentice said in a video statement released by the British Embassy in Baghdad.

The only identified captive is Peter Moore, who said his name in a video released in February pleading with the British government to negotiate for the hostages' release.

At the time of his capture, Moore was working as a computer consultant for United States firm BearingPoint.

The Virginia-based company said the other four Britons were contractors working for the firm.

"The British government remains committed to working for the release of all those held and I appeal again to those responsible to release these men, in order that they may return home," Prentice said.

"We wish to hear from any person who has information about these five men or anyone who may be able to bring about their safe release."

The hostages' families also made appeals to the kidnappers to mark the one-year anniversary of their capture at the Finance Ministry offices.

"Please, please release my brother, he's a father, son and brother to myself, we miss him dearly," a woman named only as Lisette told BBC radio. "There's not a day or minute goes by without us thinking about Jason."

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Canon Andrew White, the Anglican vicar of Baghdad, made a videotaped appeal for the men's release earlier this month.

The hostage tape released in February appeared on Arabic-language, news network Al-Arabiya, which said it received the video from a group calling itself the Shiite Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

In the video, Moore called on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to arrange a prisoner exchange so the five could be released.

"It's a simple exchange -- release those that they want so we can go home. It's as simple as that. It is a simple exchange of people. This is all they want, just have their people released," he said.

The group earlier released a tape in December showing another hostage, identified only as Jason, who claimed that the hostages had been "forgotten."

The case has been relatively low-profile due to the kidnappers' request for a media blackout, the BBC reported.

Moore was teaching Iraqis computer skills when he was kidnapped, Britain's Times newspaper said, and had previously worked in Guyana assisting with relief operations following floods in 2005.

Betsy Palmer, an executive vice president at BearingPoint, said Moore had been with the company only a few months before he was abducted.

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