 At 09 : 30 on 2 May , Oan appeared at the first @-@ floor window of the embassy to demand access to the telex system , which the police had disabled along with the telephone lines , and threatened to kill Abdul <unk> Ezzati , the cultural attaché . The police refused and Oan pushed Ezzati , who he had been holding at gunpoint at the window , across the room , before demanding to speak to somebody from the BBC who knew Sim Harris . The police , relieved to have a demand to which they could easily agree , produced Tony Crabb , managing director of BBC Television News and Harris 's boss . Oan shouted his demands — for safe passage out of the UK , to be negotiated by three ambassadors from Arab countries — to Crabb from the first @-@ floor window , and instructed that they should be broadcast along with a statement of the hostage @-@ takers ' aims by the BBC . The Foreign and Commonwealth Office informally approached the embassies of Algeria , Jordan , Kuwait , Lebanon , Syria and Qatar to ask if their ambassadors would be willing to talk to the hostage @-@ takers . The Jordanian ambassador immediately refused and the other five said they would consult their governments . The BBC broadcast the statement that evening , but in a form unsatisfactory to Oan , who considered it to be truncated and incorrect . 
