Kidnapped reporters in TV plea

Two French journalists held hostage in Iraq have called on president Jacques Chirac to save their lives by giving in to the demands of their kidnappers.

A video on the Al-Jazeera TV channel showed Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot sitting together in front of a wall.

Chesnot called on the president and his government to scrap its plan to ban the wearing of Islamic headscarves in French schools.

Malbrunot said: "I appeal to the French people to go to the streets because our lives are threatened."

On Sunday a militant group calling itself The Islamic Army In Iraq gave the French government 48 hours to overturn the ban on headscarves. Al-Jazeera said today that the group had extended its deadline for another 24 hours. France has vowed not to give in to the demand. Foreign minister Michel Barnier travelled to Cairo as part of a diplomatic drive to secure the release of the hostages who disappeared near Najaf two weeks ago. Mr Barnier said his country respected all religions and human rights and noted that Muslim leaders in France had also called for the journalists' release.

The headscarf law goes into effect when school resumes in France tomorrow.