'Release Them'; In hostage situations, Sheik Kubeisi is the man in the middle.

Byline: Babak Dehghanpisheh

The silver Nokia cell phone rang shortly after 2 a.m. Sheik Abdul Salam al-Kubeisi broke away from watching a news program and hurried into the courtyard of the Um al-Qura mosque in Baghdad, enclosed by tall spires designed to look like Kalashnikovs, to get better reception. "We've got the Japanese," the calm speaker declared with an Iraqi accent. "And we want your opinion on what we should do." The Japanese trio, two journalists and an aid worker, were last seen blindfolded in a video released by their captors, who threatened to burn them alive. "You should release them immediately," Kubeisi, a prominent Sunni cleric, replied as he paced around a large pool in front of the mosque. "Bring them to me."

The recent spate of kidnappings in Iraq, 58 since the beginning of April, has sent a chill through the community of foreigners still living and working in the country. Some hostages have been snatched out of cars. Others have been nabbed from their guarded homes. Two weeks ago a group of armed, hooded men--a kidnapping party--roamed through a Baghdad neighborhood asking residents, "Where are the Jews?" Those claiming responsibility have used names like the Mujahedin Brigades or Brigades of the Hero Martyr Sheik Ahmad Yassin, but the real identity of the kidnappers, and how they may be linked, is still unclear. So far only one group, the Association of Islamic Clerics, with Kubeisi, 55, acting as point man, has spearheaded a successful drive to get hostages released.

Twelve hours after receiving the late-night phone call, Kubeisi picked up the three Japanese hostages, rattled but unharmed, at a mosque in western Baghdad. Two days later, on Saturday, April 17, two other Japanese hostages were released into his custody. In all 22 hostages, including seven Chinese workers, a French journalist and nine drivers of mixed nationality, have been brought to Kubeisi's mosque. No direct negotiations have taken place with kidnappers, Kubeisi insists, and no money has changed hands. Instead, he says, kidnappers have heeded a religious call issued by the association on April 10, stating that hostage taking is against Islamic law. The message was disseminated through clerics at regional offices around Iraq. "We are well respected, particularly in western Iraq," says Kubeisi, ...