7:53am UK, Monday June 14, 2004

The family of a US defence contractor kidnapped by militants in Saudi Arabia have pleaded with his captors to let him go.

Paul Johnson, 49, was seized in the capital, Riyadh, on Saturday.

Paul Johnson's work pass

His kidnappers say he is being held hostage in revenge for the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq. 

A statement on a website, purporting to be from al Qaeda, included a passport-size photo of Paul Johnson and a Lockheed Martin business card bearing his name. 

The statement threatened to treat Mr Johnson as US troops treated Iraqi prisoners - a reference to abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. 

Mr Johnson's son, Paul Johnson III of Port St John, Florida, addressed the captors, saying: "Let him go. 

"It's not his fault we're over there. It's not his fault we had to go there. It was his job." 

"Get my dad home safely. He doesn't deserve this. My father's a good man. I wish the Gulf War hadn't happened. It's not just my father. Everybody is losing their lives." 

Mr Johnson was kidnapped during a week in which three other Westerners were killed in Riyadh, including Robert Jacobs, of Murphysboro, Illinois. 

Mr Jacobs, a 62-year-old employee of a US defence contractor, was killed in his parking garage last Tuesday.

He was the third Westerner to be murdered in the Kingdom in a week by militants. The first was BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers.   

The escalation in violence has prompted the Foreign Office to urge some British junior diplomats and non-essential staff to leave the country.