The elderly Dublin born mother of Ken Bigley, the British hostage being held in Iraq, is back in hospital tonight.
She took ill at her Liverpool home during a visit by the former Beirut hostage Terry Waite who had called to show his support for the family.
Mr Waite told reporters the 86-year-old, who suffers from angina, had decided to return to hospital to get the care she need.
Mr Waite also said he told the Bigley family it was important they did not give up hope that Ken would be released.
Earlier, Mr Bigely's brother, Paul, said he was still hopeful that he was alive and thanked Irish people for their support. The editors of an Arabic news website, Al-jazeera.com, posted a statement this morning saying they have been flooded with emails from Irish people calling for Mr Bigley's life to be spared.
Paul Bigley also said he had seen the messages of support on Arabic websites and was greatly encouraged by the response. Many of the messages come from people who say they opposed the war in Iraq.
Leaders of the Islamic community in Ireland have also appealed for Mr Bigley's release.
The Executive Director of the Islamic Cultural Centre, Dr Nooh Al-Kaddo said the 25,000 strong Muslim community here shared the upset of Irish people about the taking of such innocent civilians as hostages.
He was speaking at the 1st Annual Islamic Conference of Ireland in Clonskeagh in south Dublin.
Meanwhile, efforts are continuing to try to secure the release of Mr Bigley.
Two negotiators from the Muslim Council of Britain are meeting senior Iraqi leaders and clerics in Baghdad to appeal to them to do all they can to win his freedom.
Separately, a Foreign Office spokesman in Britain has said they are not taking seriously a claim on an Islamic extremist website that Mr Bigley had been murdered, adding the site in question was ‘discredited.’
A statement was released on www.alezah.com saying the Briton had been executed, but the website is believed to have lied about executions in the past.
The spokesman said that they were aware of the story, but they did not feel it could be taken seriously at this point.
