French hostages handed over to Iraqi group: Figaro

The editor of the French newspaper Le Figaro said on Thursday that Islamic militants had handed over two French journalists to an Iraqi grou...

The editor of the French newspaper Le Figaro said on Thursday that Islamic militants had handed over two French journalists to an Iraqi group that has said it was in favour of releasing them.

Jean de Belot said on France Info radio that the news was positive but that he remained cautious until the men were in safe hands. ‘‘The latest information is that Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot have been handed over by the Islamic Army in Iraq to an Iraqi Sunni guerrilla group…an opposition that we know for a few days now has been in favour of the release of the hostages,’’ he said.

Earlier, a French Muslim delegation in Iraq said they had proof that the two hostages were alive, even though France refused to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves as the school year began. The Islamic Army in Iraq, the group which seized journalists Malbrunot and Chesnot on August 20, had demanded the law be rescinded by Wednesday. But the law went into force on Thursday as millions of pupils returned to school in France. ‘‘We have received proof that they are alive and well,’’ Mohamed Bichari, vice president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, said of the hostages after talks in Baghdad with the Muslim Clerics’ Association.

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‘‘We are optimistic and confident they will be released soon,’’ he told reporters after meeting the influential Iraqi religious body, which has also called for the hostages’ release.

In France, some 12 million students returned to their school desks and few girls wore the Muslim headscarf and there were no immediate reports of protests as classes began. French Muslims, even those who oppose the headscarf ban, united in rejecting the kidnappers’ pressure.