Envoy Appeals for Release of Briton

British Ambassador John Gray appealed Monday for the release of British journalist Alec Collett, who was seized in Lebanon a year ago.

“It is curious to us that an old, sick man should be detained for a year, especially when he was sympathetic to the Arab cause,” Gray said. “He’s 64, diabetic, and we appeal for his release on humanitarian grounds.”

Collett had been in Beirut barely a month on assignment for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) when he was taken from a U.N.-marked car just south of the capital on March 25. His Austrian companion was not held.

A little-known group named the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims claimed responsibility and demanded the release of “all Muslim freedom fighters” from British jails.

The group has said it was behind attacks on British interests abroad over the last two years, including the killings of British diplomats in Bombay and Athens.