Background: Iraq hostage crisis
Updated on 26 January 2010
After two and a half years Peter Moore's release came amid reports of a prisoner exchange, accusations of Iranian involvement and questions as to why he was the only hostage freed alive?
IT expert Peter Moore was freed in December 2009, two and a half years after he was kidnapped along with four other men in Baghdad.
The 36-year-old from Lincoln was installing asset tracing software at Iraq's Finance Ministry in May 2007 when gunmen, believed to be from Iraqi group The League of the Righteous, stormed the building taking the five men hostage.
The four others were working as security guards protecting Mr Moore. Three of the men - Jason Creswell, Jason Swindlehurst, Alec Maclachlan - were shot dead while in captivity and their bodies were returned to Britain last year sparking fears for the two remaining hostages.
The Foreign Office believes the fourth security guard, Alan McMenemy, has also been killed and there are hopes his body will be released back to his family in Glasgow soon.
In December, the Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced that Peter Moore had been released saying that he was "in good health despite months in captivity". He said he had a "very moving" conversation with Mr Moore adding that the former hostage was in a "remarkable frame of mind".
Mr Moore is said to have received "rough treatment" during his first two years as a hostage but during his last six months his kidnappers' attitude changed. He was moved to a room with an en-suite bathroom with access to satellite television, a PlayStation and a laptop.
Peter Moore told family members he had seen their appeals for his release on TV.
Prisoner exchange?
Following Mr Moore's release Channel 4 News learnt that negotiations were believed to be underway to free an Iraqi militia leader.
As the hostage takers issued sporadic proof of life videos the company which employed the four security guards eventually offered several million dollars for the release of the five men - offers which were turned down.
The group is believed to have had one principal demand - the release of Qais al-Khazaali, leader of Shi'ite group Asaib al-Haq or The League of the Righteous.
Al-Khazaali, who along with his brother has been linked to the killing of five US soldiers in 2007, was moved from US to Iraqi custody last year. Peter Moore's release is understood to have come as a direct result of the decision.
Earlier this month conflicting reports emerged from Iraq about the fate of Qais al-Khazaali. Iraq's interior ministry said he had been freed, while Iraq's chief hostage negotiator Sami al-Askari later said the reports were "baseless".
The exchange deal between the US and Iraqi authorities has since prompted new questions.
The family of Jason Swindlehurst, who was shot dead by the hostage takers, have said they want to know why the deal could not have happened earlier, in time to save their son.
They had no criticism of the way the British government approached the hostage crisis but have said they want to know why the American military could not have handed over al Khazaali sooner.
"Why couldn't they have had five lads come back as apposed to one?" Mr Swindlehurst's father said.
The Iranian connection
A British newspaper has since claimed that Iran masterminded the kidnapping of the five men, saying they were snatched in an operation led by the Revolutionary guard.
A year-long investigation by the Guardian claimed the five were taken to Iran within days of the kidnapping where they were then held.
British Special Forces were reportedly sent to the Iranian border in a failed attempt to intercept the kidnappers. It is believed the soldiers were scrambled in 2007 after receiving intelligence that the hostage takers were heading to Iran from Baghdad. It is unclear whether the unit arrived too late of whether they arrived at a different crossing point along the 1,500km border.
In December Channel 4 News revealed it had been shown phone records of numbers dialled from one of the security guards' mobile phones after he was taken hostage. The records included text messages sent to Iran.
When their former boss discovered the calls he raised the issue immediately with the foreign office team in Baghdad - but did not get the response he expected.
"My initial feeling was, this is great news," Paul Wood Head of Security at Kroll/Garda World told Channel 4 News.
He said he felt that the finding was "the kind of intelligence that would have been followed up" in order to monitor conversations and track the hostages.
"When we took the records to the Foreign Office there was almost stony silence," he said.
"Certainly a feeling initially from our side that this was something that had been missed."
Britain played down reports of Iranian involvement saying there was no firm evidence to support the claims.
When questioned about the connection by Channel 4 News Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was certain the kidnapping was orchestrated by an Iraqi group.
"I am clear that this is an Iraqi group that seized the British hostages; I'm clear that it has been an Iraqi process of political reconciliation that has been the foundation for the release; I'm clear the decisions were made inside Iraq," he said.
Revealing corruption
Citing senior officials in Iraq and Iran the Guardian newspaper said Moore was seized because his computing work would have shown that vast amounts of aid money flowing into Iraq were being diverted to Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq.
The foreign secretary said that there he had "no evidence to substantiate allegations" that the IT system being installed by Peter Moore at the time of the kidnapping would displease members of the Iraqi administration.
The British foreign ministry played down reports that Iran had orchestrated the operation and that the hostages had been taken to Iran immediately after being seized.
"We can't be absolutely sure where they were for every single one of the days of their two and a half years of captivity.
"But we are pretty clear there is no firm evidence that links Iran directly with the kidnappings - it is not an avenue that we have been aware of.
"All the evidence we have, and we have worked on this for a very long time, does not suggest direct involvement," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
At the time Iranian state television said the reports were "part of a psychological war against Iran."
