Both women participated in Iraq's biological-weapons programme, according to the United Nations weapons inspectorate. News reports had earlier suggested that other Iraqi women were indeed being held in US custody, but it is not known to what extent these reports were out-of-date by the time of Bigley's kidnap. The Iraqi provisional government stated that Taha and Ammash could be released immediately, stressing that this was about to happen anyway, as no charges had been brought against the women. Second and third videos A second beheading video was released on 22 September by Bigley's captors, this time showing Bigley pleading for his life and begging the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save him. Clearly exhausted and highly emotional, Bigley spoke directly to Blair: "I need you to help me now, Blair, because you are the only person on God's earth who can help me." The video was posted on several websites, blogs and shown on Al Jazeera television. Around this time it emerged that Bigley's mother Lil (then 86 years old) had been born in Dublin and was therefore entitled to be a citizen of the Republic of Ireland; this meant Bigley himself was also an Irish citizen from birth. It was hoped this status would aid his release, as Ireland did not participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the Irish Government issued Bigley an Irish passport in absentia, which was shown on Al Jazeera television. The Irish Labour Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Michael D. Higgins, made an appeal on al-Jazeera. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams made two appeals, one on 30 September and a second on 7 October. On 24 September, 50,000 leaflets prepared by the British Foreign Office, asking for information about Bigley's whereabouts, were distributed in al-Mansour, the wealthy district of Baghdad Bigley had been living in. In his home town of Liverpool, Christian and Muslim religious and civic leaders held joint prayer sessions for his safe return. The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the kidnapping, saying it was contrary to the teachings of the Qur'an and sent a senior two-man delegation to Iraq on 26 September to negotiate on Bigley's behalf. Bigley's family, particularly his brother Paul, was successful, with the help of the Irish government, in eliciting support for Bigley's release from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, King Abdullah of Jordan, and Colonel Gadaffi of Libya, who made public statements. A third video