Suicide death' of UK Iraq hostage

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is demanding the "immediate and unconditional" release of British hostages being held in Iraq, following a militant group's claim that one of five men they kidnapped last year had committed suicide.

A video passed to the Sunday Times newspaper claimed that the man - known only as Jason - killed himself on May 25, four days short of the first anniversary of the five men's abduction.

A second hostage was shown on the video pleading for Government action to speed their release and warning that he was suffering physically and psychologically after 14 months in captivity.

The Foreign Office said it had no independent verification of the claims in the video and could not comment on their veracity.

But the Prime Minister confirmed that intensive efforts were under way behind the scenes to find a solution to the situation. Mr Brown raised the plight of the hostages with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki during a visit to Baghdad on Saturday.

The five men - an IT consultant named Peter Moore and four bodyguards whose identities have not been confirmed - were kidnapped in May last year from the Iraqi finance ministry by a Shia group which is demanding the release of prisoners from US detention.

A statement signed by the Shia Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which was passed with the video to the Sunday Times, accuses the British Government of failing to respond to messages from the kidnappers and their captives.

"This procrastination and 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," the statement said. "He surprised our brethren, who were taking care of him, with his suicide."

The video featured a still photograph of a man in a football shirt who was identified by the militant as Jason.

The second hostage - understood to be a father-of-two from Scotland called Alan - was shown saying: "Physically, I'm not doing well. Psychologically, I'm doing a lot worse. I want to see my family again," he said. "I would like for the British Government to please hurry and get this resolved as soon as possible."