Iraq Abduction Anniversary Marked
Friends and relatives speak about the hostages
The families of five British men being held hostage in Iraq are marking a year without their loved ones.
The civilian contractors were kidnapped by armed militants at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance in Baghdad.
Some of their friends and relatives have marked the anniversary with an exclusive interview with the BBC.
In it, the sister of one man, named only as Jason, appeals to the kidnappers to release her brother, saying: "We miss him dearly."
The father of another hostage, named as Alec, tells how he went into "shock" when he heard his son had been seized.
'Sensitive negotiations'
A friend of another of those held tells how much the man, also called Jason, loves his only daughter and how much the child misses her father.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office says sensitive negotiations for the men's release are going on behind the scenes.
But earlier this month, the father of one of the captives accused the government of not keeping the families fully informed.
One of the hostages has been named as IT consultant Peter Moore, from Lincoln, who was working for Bearingpoint, an American management consultancy.
The other four men, who were employed by a security firm to guard Mr Moore, have not been officially identified
Hostage videos
Over the past 12 months the kidnappers, calling themselves the Islamic Shiite Resistance in Iraq, have released two videos of the captives.
In December, a film was broadcast on Dubai-based TV station Al-Arabiya warning one hostage would be killed unless British troops were withdrawn from Iraq.
One of the men, who said his name was Jason, was shown in the clip complaining that the kidnapped men felt they had been "forgotten".
A second video, broadcast by Al-Arabiya in February, showed Mr Moore asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown to free nine Iraqis in exchange for the Britons' release.
The threat to kill the hostage was apparently not carried out.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, took the unusual step of recording a direct video appeal to the kidnappers earlier this month.
The case has not featured in the media as much as other kidnappings in Iraq - including those of Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan - because of a Foreign Office request for minimal coverage, made in keeping with the wishes of the men's families.
The kidnappers had asked for a media blackout and the Foreign Office said it did not want anything to get in the way of its negotiations, through third parties, to get the men released.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7424947.stm
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Rather guiltily, I must admit that I'd forgotten about them.
Let's hope the matter is resolved quickly and peacefully.
