Beirut, Aug 24, SPA -- Lebanese hostage Mohammed Raad wasfreed by his Iraqi captors and is in the Lebanese Embassyin Baghdad, Lebanese Foreign Ministry officials saidWednesday. Foreign Minister Jean Obeid spoke to Raad at the embassyby telephone and congratulated him on his release, theofficials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Theformer hostage's condition was good and he would travellater to Lebanon, they added. On Tuesday, an Iraqi group said it was freeing Raad, who was kidnapped Aug. 2. In a video aired Tuesday on the al-Arabiya satellite channel, masked gunmen said they were releasing him after an appeal by The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni Muslim group in Iraq. In the al-Arabiya video, a black banner read, "IslamicMovement for Iraq's Mujahedeen" behind the gunmen. Itshowed a man, identified as Raad, looking down and holdingwhat appeared to be his passport. On Aug. 17, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporationtelevision station aired a video by the same group,alleging Raad worked for the Lebanon-based DalalEngineering Company and demanding it end its activities inIraq and its alleged cooperation with U.S. forces. The captors threatened to kill Raad, 27, if their demandswere not met within three days.--SPA1329 Local Time 1029 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/194957