A file photo for Rihab Taha, nicknamed as Dr Germ

BAGHDAD, September 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The interim Iraqi government announced Wednesday, September 22, that one of the two women held prisoner by the US occupation forces was likely to be released one day after a second US hostage was executed by a militant group while the fate of a further British captive hangs in the balance.

“The Iraqi government thinks Rihab Taha is no longer a threat to national security and that she can obtain a conditional release if a bail is paid,” Nuri Abdelrahim Ibrahim, spokesman for the Iraqi justice ministry told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Ibrahim denied the linkage between the possible release of Taha and the threat of Tawhid wal Jihad militant group to execute the British hostage.

He added the Iraqi female prisoner, a biological weapons scientist nicknamed Dr Germ, could be released as part of a review of her detention.

“The Iraqi authorities have agreed with coalition forces to conditionally release Rihab Rashid Taha on bail,” Abdelrahim added.

However, the US State Department said it had no information of such plans.

The US occupation authorities insist that Taha and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a biotech researcher known as Mrs. Anthrax, are the only two Iraqi women in US custody.  

US Hostage Beheaded

A grab taken from a video posted a website shows blindfolded Jack Hensley

The potential release of Taha came one day after a second American national was grisly decapitated in Iraq the militant group that also threatened to kill a British hostage if the US military did not release all woman prisoners in the notorious Abu Gharib and Um Qasr prisons.

The group, which is linked to the alleged Al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, said it had beheaded Jack Hensley after the US had refused to meet its demands. 

“The lions of Tawhid wal Jihad have cut the throat of the second American prisoner following the expiry of the ultimatum,” the group said in a statement carried by AFP.

The Killing of Hensley came a 24 hours after the beheading of an American national on Monday, September 20.

“Because you Americans have not freed our sisters... and because your agent Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi claims that in your prisons you have only two women from the former regime... we are cutting off this head,” it added.

The fate of British hostage Kenneth Bigley hangs in the balance

The Iraqi group also threatened the British hostage will face the same fate unless the British government meets its demands and releases the Iraqi women held by the occupation forces in Iraq .

The issue of abductions in Iraq has caused a great controversy worldwide with Muslims from the four corners of the world vigorously condemning such tactics in conformity with the rulings of Islam.

An well-known Algerian Islamic leader went on an open-ended hunger strike till all foreigners abducted in Iraq are released.

Abbasi Madani, the ailing leader of Algeria 's banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), has vowed to continue the hunger strike he began Tuesday, September 14, “until death”. (Click here to read Islam’s Stance on Killing Captives).