The group want Mr Straw to do more to save Kenneth Bigley

A small number of protestors gathered outside Blackburn Town Hall on Sunday to protest at the government's policy.

The Uniting for Peace and Solidarity rally was organised by the Muslim group Blackburn Friendship Mission (BFM).

Spokesman Ismail Lorgat said the Muslim community had to support Mr Bigley and his family "in this hour of need".

Mr Bigley, 62, originally from Walton, Liverpool, was abducted at gunpoint last week from Baghdad where he was working as a civil engineer.

'Murdering humanity'

Two Americans kidnapped with him - Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley - have already been beheaded by their captors.

Mr Lorgat, who has lived in Britain for 40 years, added: "Our MP, Jack Straw, is not doing enough by simply stating that we do not negotiate with terrorists and evil people around the world.

"We need to support them [the Bigley family] in this hour of need.

"One human being is worth everything. There are words in the Koran: if you kill one human being, it is equivalent to murdering the whole of humanity."

Mr Lorgat said he had been lobbying Mr Straw for the government to end military action in Iraq for the past 18 months, but felt he had been "fobbed off".