UK and Iraq condemn hostage video

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to his Iraqi counterpart Nouri Maliki following Tuesday night's broadcast by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV of a video of one of five Britons kidnapped in Baghdad on May 29.

The bearded man, who seemed in good health, said: "My name is Peter Moore, I have been held here for nearly eight months now."

He asked Mr Brown to free nine Iraqis in exchange for their release.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has been in close contact with Prime Minister Maliki on this issue and discussed it again with him over the phone.

"Both leaders deplored the taking and public parading of hostages and agreed to continue their close co-operation to secure their early release."

The five, who have not been officially named, were seized by about 40 gunmen wearing police uniforms at the Iraqi Finance Ministry.

At the time Iraqi officials blamed the Mahdi Army, the militia controlled by the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

It was thought to be a retaliatory attack for the killing by British forces of the militia's commander in Basra, southern Iraq, a week earlier. But al-Sadr's followers have denied responsibility and suspicion has fallen on Mahdi Army splinter groups, which the US believes are controlled by Iran.

Four of the hostages were working for Canadian firm GardaWorld as security guards. They are believed to have been the bodyguards of the fifth man, a computer consultant employed by BearingPoint, an American management consultancy.