French hostage in Iraq pleads on tape

Kidnapped French journalist Florence Aubenas has made a desperate appeal for help in a video tape released by insurgents today…

Kidnapped French journalist Florence Aubenas has made a desperate appeal for help in a video tape released by insurgents today.

"My name is Florence Aubenas. I'm French. I'm a journalist with Liberation," she said on the undated tape, looking distraught, her hair bedraggled.

She wore a grey sweatshirt and black trousers and spoke in accented English.

"My health is very bad. I'm very bad psychologically also," she said, staring at the camera and holding her legs up against her chest in front of a dark red background.

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Ms Aubenas disappeared on January 5th. She was believed to have been snatched from her car while driving in Baghdad. On the tape, she made a specific appeal to a French official.

The tape lasted less than one minute and it was not clear when or where it was shot. It was delivered to news organisations in Baghdad.

Ms Aubenas is at least the third French journalist to be kidnapped in Iraq.

Two others, Mr Georges Malbrunot and Mr Christian Chesnot, were freed late last year after nearly four months in captivity.

Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, was abducted early last month and is still being held.

More than 130 foreigners have been seized in Iraq over the past 18 months. Most have been freed after negotiations or the payment of a ransom, but around a third of them have been killed.