British reporter enjoying freedom

Mr Brandon was videoed with his captors

A UK journalist is enjoying his first day of freedom since being kidnapped from a hotel by masked gunmen in Basra.

James Brandon, 23, has been taken to a British base in the southern Iraqi city following his release on Friday.

He was kidnapped on Thursday but freed after the intervention of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Mr Brandon said his kidnappers, who had threatened to kill him on a video, had treated him well once they knew he was a journalist.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said it was "relieved" he had been freed, adding: "He is safe and well and in the hands of the British Office in Basra."

'Wearing balaclavas'

Mr Brandon was in Basra filing material for the next edition of the Sunday Telegraph, although he also worked for The Scotsman and The Independent.

In a hastily arranged press conference after his release, Mr Brandon, from London, thanked his kidnappers.

Sporting a black eye, he said: "Initially I was treated roughly, but once they knew I was a journalist I was treated very well and I want to say thank you to the people who kidnapped me."

When asked if he could identify any of his captors, he replied: "No, they were wearing balaclavas."

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During the press conference a spokesman for Mr Sadr, seated next to Mr Brandon, apologised for the kidnapping and invited him to join the Muslim faith.

"We apologise for what happened to you. This is not our tradition, not our rules. It is not the tradition of Islam," the spokesman said.

Mr Brandon's mother, Hilary Nassim, later stood on the steps of the Foreign Office in London and said it had been "a long day".

She said: "There must have been hundreds of people here and all over Iraq helping him.

"I've spoken to him on the phone and he was joking about his black eye and he is happy. I'm just glad he has been released."

I was spread-eagled against a wall, searched, and then marched off towards an unknown fate through a sea of angry faces Colin Freeman Journalist Colin Freeman's life in Basra

The kidnappers initially demanded US troops pull out of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf within 24 hours or Mr Brandon would be killed.

They released two videos featuring the journalist on Friday.

In the first, he appeared with bandages wrapped around his head and confirmed his name and occupation while a kidnapper made death threats.

On the second tape Mr Brandon was badly bruised and sat silently while the voice of a kidnapper promised his release after intervention from Mr Sadr.

The radical cleric intervened as a temporary truce in Najaf brought an end to more than a week of heavy fighting between his men and the Iraqi-US force.