[02.15 GMT] UPDATES: Australian Muslim seeks freedom for Christian Peacemakers (Ekklesia, UK). Also appealing on al-Jazeera over the last two days has been a friend of Harmeet Sooden who was a 'human' shield during the 2003 war. {Pic: Keysar Trad of the Islamic Frienship Association of Australia}

Meanwhile, President George Bush has not responded so far to requests from CPT to meet with him to discuss Iraq and the plight of detainees and hostages. Instead, in a high profile speech, he has told his political opponents that criticism of US policy in Iraq would give succour to the nation's enemies, re-emphasising his 'us' or 'them' approach to the issue.

Tonight BBC News 24 is running a feature on the regular kidnappings in Iraq - mostly carried out by criminal gangs and targeting Iraqis thmselves. They are running at an average of 40-a-day, and a special police unit has been established to investigate them. (This would appear to be the source of some misleading reports on Canadian sites last month, which suggested wrongly that a unit had been established for the CPT four. It was also wrongly reported that direct contact had been made with the kidnappers and that a 'local negotiator' had been abducted.)