British official to visit prisoners in Baghdad

[UPI]

LONDON (UPI) -- A senior Foreign Office official went ahead with a
planned trip to visit three Britons held in Iraqi jails Monday despite
new tensions raised by the U.S. missile attack on Baghdad, a Foreign
Office spokesman said.
Families of the three Britons, each serving long jail terms for
alleged illegal entry into Iraq, said they feared the U.S. raid would
set back efforts to gain an early release for the men, but the
government spokesman said the incident should not affect their cases.
Stephen Howarth, chief of the Foreign Office consular section, and a
diplomat from the British Embassy in Amman left the Jordanian capital
Sunday to drive to Baghdad for a visit that had been planned before
Saturday night's raid.
The Foreign Office spokesman, who in line with local practice asked
not to be named, said there had been no immediate word on the effort to
see the jailed Britons, but he added, ``We're not aware that they
encountered any problems.''
The visit was organized by Russian diplomats, who represent British
interests in Baghdad, prior to the missile attack on the Iraqi
intelligence headquarters and Britain ``decided it should go ahead''
despite the new tension, the spokesman said.
Paul Ride, 33, Michael Wainwright, 42, and Simon Dunn, 23, are each
in a Baghdad jail serving long sentences that the British spokesman said
were ``entirely unjustified'' for border entry incidents.
Russian diplomats have been visiting the three men every two weeks,
and British officials were able to see Ride and Wainwright several
months ago, before Dunn's arrest.
The families of the men were critical of the U.S. retaliation attack
on Baghdad.
``I think what they've done is completely out of order,'' Ride's
wife, Julie, was quoted as saying of the raid. ``This will set back the
release of Paul and other Western prisoners in Iraq.''
The Foreign Office spokesman said, however, that there was no
indication from Baghdad of any additional threat to the prisoners
because of the U.S. raid.
``The two things are entirely separate and distinct,'' he said.