New hostage video

British hostage Ken Bigley today made a dramatic new video plea for his life from behind the bars of a cage.

Chained and kneeling on the floor, the 62-year-old sobbed as he made the direct appeal to Tony Blair to meet the demands of his captors who seized him in Baghdad two weeks ago.

Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera broadcast the footage after it received a video tape from Mr Bigley's captors, a group led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The Foreign Office said it had seen the video and was in the process of translating Arabic writing which appeared in the background of the footage. Its officials were informing the Bigley family of the latest development.

In the film, Mr Bigley, a civil engineer from Liverpool, pleads with the Prime Minister to release women prisoners held by the US military in Iraq.

He said that the hostage-takers did not want to kill him, and accused Mr Blair of ignoring his plight and of "lying", according to Al-Jazeera. Mr Bigley, wearing an orange jumpsuit, is heard saying of the Prime Minister: "He doesn't care about me, I'm just one person."

This afternoon Paul Bigley said his brother's freedom could be guaranteed by Mr Blair. Paul Bigley said: "I can guarantee you today that if Mr Blair stood down today, Ken would be home tomorrow." And he claimed he had been assured that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was prepared to pay a ransom if it would gain his freedom.

But he added: "It is not about money.

"They want to get their point of view over and by Jove, they are getting it over."

He told BBC News 24: "He's pleading for his life and he's asking Mr Blair to give way to the demands, whatever those demands will be."

He said it was "absolutely appalling" to see his brother in chains.

The militants knew they were "getting mileage" from the situation, he said, adding: "I'm only hoping that they appreciate the fact that because of all this, because of our efforts ...that they've had worldwide coverage that not any publicity agent could have dreamed of doing.

"I hope that they appreciate that fact and they'll eventually release Ken as a reward for that fact and that publicity."

He added: "I am hoping and hoping that the captors will show mercy as depicted in this communiqué."

Later he told Sky News: "It's just a waiting game now."

Mr Bigley was captured in Baghdad two weeks ago.

Two Americans seized with him, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, have already been beheaded, their murders captured on video and released by the terrorists responsible.

Britain has ruled out striking a deal with the hostagetakers.

Yesterday, hopes were raised with the release of two Italian women aid-workers amid reports that the government in Rome had staged complex negotiations and paid ransom money to help secure their safe return.