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Doha calls for hostages' release as French FM holds crisis talks in Qatar
AFP, September, 2004
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DOHA (AFP) — Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani called for the release of two French journalists in Iraq and for "respect" for France's political system and laws, after meeting French counterpart Michel Barnier.
"We appeal for sparing the French journalists. We hope they will be freed promptly," he told a joint news conference with Barnier, in Doha as part of a mission to obtain the release of the pair.
Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who went missing August 20, are being held by a Sunni militant group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq, which is demanding that France rescind a law banning the Islamic headscarf in state schools.
"Whether we agree or not, we must respect the French decision on this issue," Sheikh Hamad said of the French law, which also applies to other "conspicuous" religious insignia.
"We respect the French decision," he added.
The ...
