George Malbrunot is a French journalist working for Le Figaro who, along with Christian Chesnot and their Syrian driver Muhammed al-Jundi, was taken hostage on August 20, 2004, by the Islamic Army in Iraq. This group gave the French government a 48-hour deadline to repeal its law against girls wearing the Muslim veil in school. The ultimatum was delivered by means of video broadcast on the Arab TV channel Al Jazeera at 6.30 p.m. GMT on August 26. Muhammed al-Jundi was freed by U.S. Marines in November 2004 in Fallujah. Both French hostages were released on December 21, 2004. Recently, 3. 9. 2013 he interviewed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on the usage of chemical weapons in Syria.