Al-Jazeera cameraman held at Guantanamo urges release of kidnapped BBC journalist

GUANTANAMO: Al-Jazeera cameraman held at Guantanamo urges release of kidnapped BBC journalist

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A TV cameraman jailed at Guantanamo Bay appealed for the release of a BBC journalist kidnapped in Gaza, saying his own detention by the U.S. military "is not a lesson that Muslims should copy."

Sami al-Hajj of the Al-Jazeera TV network urged those holding Alan Johnston to free him quickly and without conditions in a statement released Monday by his attorney.

"As brothers in one faith, consider this gift that I request of you," he said. "While the United States has kidnapped me and held me for years on end, this is not a lesson that Muslims should copy."

Al-Hajj, a 38-year-old native of Sudan, has been held at the U.S. Naval Base in southeast Cuba for nearly five years on suspicion of links to Islamic militant groups.

His attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, said he could not discuss how his client learned about the plight of Johnston, a 45-year-old correspondent seized March 12 in Gaza City by Palestinian gunmen. His disappearance is the longest of any Western journalist abducted in Gaza.

"Sami feels very strongly that his situation is unfair and that he doesn't want to see other people treated equally unfairly," Stafford Smith told The Associated Press.

A Palestinian government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, said over the weekend that negotiations with the "small group" holding Johnston could soon lead to his release.