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Iraqi militants who kidnapped an Australian reporter in Baghdad and threatened to kill him Googled his name on the Internet to investigate his work before deciding to release him unharmed, the journalist's executive producer said Tuesday.

John Martinkus, the first Australian confirmed as having been abducted in Iraq, was seized in Baghdad early Saturday and held for about 24 hours before being freed.

Returning home Tuesday, Martinkus demanded an apology from Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who had said the journalist was abducted when he went a Baghdad neighborhood that he was warned not to visit. "He was advised not to go to, but he went there anyway," Downer told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

"Alexander Downer doesn't know his geography very well," Martinkus told reporters after arriving at Sydney's airport. "I was actually across the road from the Australian Embassy when I was kidnapped. more..