Despite visible exhaustion due to lack of sleep and anxiety, relatives of the three Japanese taken hostage last week in Iraq continued their desperate appeal Tuesday for the release of their loved ones.
The family members were interviewed Tuesday by BBC and delivered "a very simple human appeal" that was to be aired on TV in English and on radio in Arabic worldwide, according to a BBC correspondent who interviewed them.
They also submitted letters the same day to the ruling and opposition parties, urging them to push the government to "concede to the demands of the captors." They also sought a meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.