被绑架英国夫妇请求首相援助

A British couple held hostage by Somali pirates have urged UK Prime Minister David Cameron to clarify whether his government will seek their release.

一对被索马里海盗绑架的英国夫妇要求首相大卫·卡梅隆所领导的政府就是否会营救他们的问题做出回应。

Paul Chandler, 60, and Rachel Chandler, 56, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were kidnapped while sailing in the Indian Ocean in October.

In an interview broadcast on ITV News, Mr Chandler said they "desperately¹ needed" the PM to make a statement.

The Foreign Office said it had a policy of not negotiating with kidnappers²（绑匪） .

The pair spoke³ to a Somali journalist at the weekend, ITV News reported, adding that the kidnappers had not benefited financially from the interview.

Mr Chandler offered his congratulations to the new prime minister, but urged him to act.

Raised hopes

"As new prime minister, we desperately need him to make a definitive⁴ public statement of the government's attitude to us," Mr Chandler said.

"If the government is not prepared to help, then they must say so, because the gangsters⁵' expectations and hopes have been raised at the thought of a new government and there might be a different approach."

The Foreign Office said the British government's policy of "not making or facilitating（促进，便利） substantive⁶（大量的，实质的） concessions⁷（让步，优惠） to hostage-takers, including the payment of ransoms⁹（赎金） , is long-standing and clear".

A spokesman said: "This has been the policy of successive governments and has not changed. Our thoughts are with their families on the release of this video, and our consular¹⁰（领事的） officials are in close touch with them.

"We again urge those holding Paul and Rachel to release them safely, immediately and unconditionally¹¹."

'Naive¹²' captors

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said the captors were "rather naively¹³（无邪地，天真地） thinking" that a new government in the UK would mean a new policy towards paying the ransom⁸.

He also said that the captors "cannot get it into their heads" that the Chandlers are not wealthy, nor was a big company likely to pay the ransom as sometimes happened for merchant shipping¹⁴ vessels¹⁵ and crews.

The couple said they had been kept apart for almost 100 days of their captivity¹⁶.

Previously¹⁷ the couple, married for 30 years, have spoken of the "torture" and "torment¹⁸（痛苦，苦恼） " of not being held together.

In an interview in March, they said they had been whipped（鞭打） , and Mrs Chandler had been hit with a rifle butt¹⁹.

Then Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised their case when he met Somali President Sharif Ahmed in the UK in March.