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press tv

A group calling itself al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has threatened to execute a French hostage if four militants held in Mali are not released within 20 days.

"The Mujahideen have decided to inform the French and Malian governments of their only condition and demand for the release of the French hostage Pierre Kamat, which is the release of our four prisoners arrested by Mali several months ago," the statement read on a website used by the group on Sunday.

Kamat was kidnapped on November 25 in Mali.

"We call upon the French public and the family of the kidnapped to put pressure on the Sarkozy government and to prevent it from committing the stupidity, which was committed by [British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown against the British citizen," the group said.

Last May, AQIM executed British hostage Edwin Dyer who was kidnapped at the Mali-Niger border.