Hamas: Kidnapped BBC journalist to be released soon

Hamas: Kidnapped BBC journalist to be released soon

Hamas has pledged in the wake of its bloody seizure of power in Gaza to work to free Johnston, who was snatched by gunmen from his car as he drove home from work on March 12 in Gaza City. He has now been held for 97 days.

"I hope he will be freed in the next few hours god willing," a Hamas representative in Iran, Abu Ossama al-Motti told AFP in Tehran.

"He will be freed. He could stay in Gaza and be our guest but he could also go to Britain if he wants."

On Friday, the Iranian-backed Islamist movement's armed wing said it had started taking "practical steps" to release Johnston after its fighters overran its rivals from the secular Fatah party in Gaza.

Sacked Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya also said in an interview that the Islamists' takeover of Gaza was good news for the British journalist, by far the longest-detained Westerner in the territory.

"From now on there will be one legitimate armed force. We will bring discipline and law to Gaza. It will thus be easier to gain the liberation of the British journalist Alan Johnston. His kidnappers will listen to us more closely," he said in an interview with France's Le Figaro newspaper.

The shadowy Army of Islam has claimed to be holding the veteran newsman and has demanded the release of Islamic militants, particularly Palestinian-born cleric Abu Qatada, who is detained in Britain.

Hamas announced it was cutting all ties with the Army of Islam after it claimed the abduction, and Hamas officials including Haniya have repeatedly called for Johnston's release.

On June 1, the Army of Islam released a video of Johnston in which the 45-year-old said he was in good health and being well treated.

"First of all, my captors have treated me very well. They've fed me well, there's been no violence towards me at all and I'm in good health," said a pale Johnston, wearing a red sweatshirt and seated in front of a black backdrop.

There was no indication as to when or where the Internet video was made, but Johnston at one point referred to "here in Gaza" and its release sparked a new flurry of international calls for his freedom.

The prize-winning journalist, who marked his birthday in captivity, spoke of Palestinian suffering as well as the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but a message to his family was cut.

Johnston's plight has sparked solidarity rallies and messages of support from all over the world and an online petition calling for his release has been signed by more than 148,000 people.

Abu Qatada, once described by a Spanish judge as Al Qaeda's "spiritual head" in Europe, was arrested in Britain in August 2005 as part of a crackdown on Islamist extremism after 56 people were killed in London suicide bombings.

Johnston, one of the few Western reporters to be permanently based in Gaza, was just weeks away from finishing his post as the BBC's correspondent in the volatile coastal strip when he was abducted.

He joined the BBC in January 1991 as a sub-editor in the BBC World Service newsroom before becoming the corporation's Tashkent correspondent from 1993 to 1995.

He also served as the BBC's Kabul correspondent from 1997 to 1998 when the Taliban militia were in power.

He returned to London and the BBC World Service to be a programme editor of The World Today and then a general reporter in the BBC World Service newsroom.