In Iraq there were five hostages, there are now four, the captors have reported that one of the hostages has committed suicide.

For a year these men have been left to languish, captors of the  "Islamic Shi'ite resistance in iraq.

If the reports of this suicide are true then Our Government, more specifically the Foreign Office will have blood on their hands, this once venerable office has done little to end the captives torment or the torment that waiting families have to live with from day to day.

From the article

ONE OF five British bodyguards held captive in Iraq by extremists has committed suicide just four days before the first anniversary of their hostage taking, the group holding the men claimed last night.

The Islamic Shi'ite Resistance in Iraq - which is demanding the release of nine prisoners in custody in Basra - claimed in a video released last night that one of the men, named only as Jason, had killed himself out of depression and dispair' at his continued captivity.

 The hostages, who include two Scots, were snatched from outside the Iraqi Finance Ministry in Baghdad on May 29 last year. Jason, from England, is claimed by the group to have died on May 25 after the group holding him claimed he had taken his own life as the mental state of the five hostages reached "total depression and despair".

In an embarrassing development for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the group said they have "over and over again" spoken to the UK government in an attempt to resolve the situation, but "the government remains indifferent".

The group went on to claim in the video that "procrastination, foot-dragging and lack of seriousness on the part of the British government has prolonged their psychological deterioration, pushing one of them, Jason, to commit suicide. We regret this ... we hold the British government responsible for what has happened and what may happen.

The captors want prisoners who are being held by the UK and US to be released

Why is it that we have a government that appears to do nothing about five of it's citizens, allowing them to suffer the torture of wondering if this day will be their last on this planet? and at the same time protesting vigorously about alleged "torture" in the US and the UK 's complicity in said torture, then calling for the extradition to America of Abu Hamsa to be stopped in case he may be "tortured"MPs call for halt to extradition of 'terrorist' cleric Abu Hamza to US after CIA admitted to torture

To witness such duplicity by Her Majesty's Government makes me feel ashamed, indeed  HRH should also feel ashamed

I am not at all surprised by this move to derail the extradition of Hamsa to the US, something was always going to be engineered to prevent the execution of the warrant, and no doubt Ms Blears wants "hands free Abu" as one of the twenty experts on Islam who will advise on anti radicalization strategies.Britain will fund Islamic forum to fight extremism