A prominent Muslim cleric called for the release of two French journalists held hostage in Iraq, and said two captive Italian female aid workers should also be freed despite Italy's military involvement in Iraq.
The abduction of newsmen Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot is "prohibited by religion and logic," Egyptian-born, Qatar-based Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi told a news conference.
"We are in contact with our brethren in the Council of (Muslim) Ulema in Iraq, (urging them to) exert efforts to end the crisis of the French journalists," who were kidnapped along with their Syrian driver on August 20 by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, he said.
The group has demanded that France rescind a ban on Islamic headscarves in state schools, a demand rejected by Paris.
Qaradawi said he had told French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier when they met in Cairo on August 30 that while he himself was opposed to the headscarf ban, "this is one thing and the abduction of the two journalists is another, and we don't accept it at all."
Barnier was in Cairo as part of a Middle East tour aimed at trying to win the journalists' release.
Noting that France opposed last year's US-led war on Iraq, Qaradawi asked: "How can we equate those who stood by us with those who were against us?"
Qaradawi condemned all hostage-taking, saying it was banned under Islamic law and calling for the release of Italian charity workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who were snatched from their Baghdad office on Tuesday, despite the fact that Rome backed the war and maintains troops in Iraq.
"While Italy participated in the war on Iraq, millions of Italians took to the streets to demonstrate against the war. Moreover, the two (hostages) work for a humanitarian organization which has nothing to do with the war," he said.
Qaradawi, who regularly appears on Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, blasted the hostage-takers who executed 12 Nepalese captives in Iraq, saying they were "people without religion and without brains," and calling on them to return the victims' bodies to their families.
The Sunni cleric, whose news conference was attended by Doha-based French, Italian and US diplomats, said it was a "duty to fight the American invaders" of Iraq.
But he denied having issued a fatwa (religious edict) sanctioning the killing of American civilians.
"Religious tenets allow killing only combatants," he said.