UPDATE ON KIDNAPPED BBC REPORTER

Group says it's holding BBC's Mideast reporter (MSNBC)
DUBAI - A little-known Islamist group said it was holding the BBC's Middle East correspondent Alan Johnston who disappeared eight weeks ago, according to an audio recording posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

"We demand that Britain free our prisoners, particularly the honorable Sheikh Abu Qatada al Filistini," said a speaker on the tape from the Jaysh al Islam (Army of Islam) group. The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified.

The recording was posted on an Islamist Web site often used by al-Qaida and other militant groups, and was accompanied by what appeared to be a picture of Johnston's BBC identification card.

Johnston's Captors Make Three Demands (CAMERA)
Palestinian Ma'an News Agency reports today that the Gazans holding BBC reporter Alan Johnston have finally issued their demands:

The first demand is to be fulfilled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and is for the captors to be illegally given an area of land. The sources gave no further details about this demand.

The second demand is to be met by the Jordanian authorities and is the release of the Iraqi female captive, Sajida Rishawi, who is accused of planning the explosions in the Jordanian capital of Amman on the 9th of November 2006.

The third demand is for the BBC to pay a ransom of $5million.

HEY, THEY FORGOT TO MENTION THEIR ZIONIST ENEMY OR THE RELEASE OF THE TERRORISTS ISRAEL HAS IMPRISONED. IT APPEARS THEIR GRIEVENCE IS WITH THE PA, JORDAN AND THE BBC. I ALSO HAVE GRIEVENCES WITH THE PA, JORDAN AND THE BBC. I DON'T THINK I'LL BE KIDNAPPING ANYONE HOWEVER (EVEN THOUGH I COULD USE THE MONEY).

THE FOLLOWING MAY EXPLAIN WHY THE DEMANDS ARE NOT FULL OF ISLAMO-FASCIST RHETORIC (ALTHOUGH I'M SURE, AS WITH PRIOR HOSTAGES, THEY WILL MAKE JOHNSON TO CONVERT TO ISLAM).

Hamasniks Tell Captors to Drop Islamic Justification (CAMERA)
The irony has a distinctly mideastern flavor. The AP reports:

Palestinian officials are trying to persuade the kidnappers of a long-held BBC journalist that they are mistaken in using Islamic justifications for their actions, an aide to the Palestinian premier said yesterday.

Ahmed Youssef, an aide to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said there had been contacts with the kidnappers of Alan Johnston, who has been held for 50 days, by far the longest time in captivity for a Western hostage.

"It's on the way to being resolved. It's being addressed religiously and ideologically," he said, but would not say whether he expected Johnston to be released in days or weeks.

Youssef said negotiators were trying to convince kidnappers that the extremist Islamic ideology they used to justify holding Westerners was incorrect. Last week
Haniyeh suggested the kidnappers belonged to an Islamic extremist group.

An Islamic extremist group, as opposed to say, Haniyeh's Hamas, listed as a terror group by the U.S., EU and Israel and whose charter calls for Muslims to kill "the Jews." The AP article also says that Youssef denies earlier reports about the captors' demands.