Executed Italian hostage hailed a hero for defying kidnappers

Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers’ demands and withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq.

The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said a video recording of the shooting showed Mr Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head.

"When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted: ‘Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies.’ And they killed him," Mr Frattini said. "He died a hero."

Far from dividing Italian society, the killing has seen politicians and ordinary citizens close ranks behind the vow by the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to stay the course in Iraq.

Mr Berlusconi called a meeting of top ministers to discuss the crisis, but his government made clear it would not yield to pressure to remove its forces from Iraq.

"It wouldn’t just be vile, it would also damage us if we pulled out [of Iraq] with the job half done. We cannot give in," the defence minister, Antonio Martino, said.

Opposition leaders, many of them deeply critical of Mr Berlusconi’s support for George Bush, the US president, during the Iraq conflict, also ruled out negotiations.

"The vile blackmail by a band of criminal kidnappers must not be given the dignity of a political response. Italy is and must remain unified and together," said Francesco Rutelli, leader of one opposition group, the Daisy party.

On Wednesday night, the broadcaster al-Jazeera said it received a video showing the killing. The tape was accompanied by a statement from a previously unknown group calling itself the Green Battalion, which threatened to "kill the three remaining Italian hostages one after the other, if their demands are not met", the network said.

The group demanded the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, an apology from Mr Berlusconi and the release of religious clerics held in Iraq.

The Italian government has repeatedly said it would not negotiate directly with the kidnappers and would not pay any ransom. The government said an Iranian delegation was headed to Baghdad to help in efforts to secure the release of the Italians, while Mr Berlusconi sent his top diplomatic aide, Gianni Castellaneta, to Iraq.

While the mood in Italy was one of defiance, in Japan there was euphoria at the news of the release of their three hostages.

Al-Jazeera showed a video of the three - Noriaki Imai, 18; a freelance journalist, Soichiro Koriyama, 32; and an aid worker, Nahoko Takato, 34 - looking shaken but in good health in a meeting with the spokesman of the Muslim Clerics Association, Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi.

They were shown toasting Mr Kubaisi and each other.

A tearful Ms Takato, wearing a red jacket, was shown joining Mr Imai and Mr Koriyama in the video, aired by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Exhausted but jubilant relatives of the three cried out in joy in Tokyo as they saw their loved ones on television.

"When I saw them alive on TV, I felt really happy," said Ayako Inoue, Ms Takato’s sister.

"I feel truly grateful from the bottom of my heart to many people who took action to save their lives."

Japan has been on tenterhooks since last Thursday, when an armed group took the three hostage and threatened to kill them if Japan did not withdraw its troops from Iraq. At least 40 foreign nationals have been taken hostage in Iraq.

Mohammed al-Faythee, a spokesman for the Muslim Clerics Association, said: "We have urged people not to take anyone hostage who has nothing to do with troops occupying Iraq."

Speaking at Baghdad’s Um al-Qura mosque, Mr Faythee said: "I am very happy for the Japanese that have been released."

But he was not optimistic about the fate of the three remaining Italians. "They are a bigger problem because their troops are occupying our country. They have a big problem."