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The second ultimatum on two French journalists held on hostage in Iraq expired Tuesday evening without fresh news, while Paris continues multiplying contacts for their release.
Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot of Paris daily Le Figaro were reportedly kidnapped on their way from Baghdad to the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf on Aug. 20.
The kidnappers, calling themselves the Islamic Army of Iraq, gave France 48 hours to revoke a law banning Islamic head scarves in state schools, according to footage aired by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel on Saturday.
The French government Monday rebuffed the demand of the kidnappers, saying that it would go ahead with a ban on Muslim headscarves and other religious attire in public schools, which is due to come into effect at the start of the academic year on Thursday.
The kidnappers later extended the ultimatum by 24 hours to Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, Al-Arabiya television reported that the release of the two hostages was "imminent," but French Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo denounced the rumor, saying: "These are rumors. We cannot confirm them. Our efforts continue."
The French government on Tuesday multiplied efforts for the release of the two journalists, among a wave of anger all over France, including those who had opposed gravely to the headscarf law.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin summoned a ministerial crisis meeting for the third time since the blackmail. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier is holding talks with his Jordanian counterpart Marwan Moasher before an expected meeting with King Abdullah II, after his trip to Egypt on Monday.
President Jacques Chirac, returned to Paris from his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, called gravely again for the hostages' release.
In Paris French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe and President of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, Dalil Boubakeur, joined prayers at the Paris mosque for the release of two journalists.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2004)
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