A vicar who has been helping the effort to secure the release of five Britons abducted in Baghdad has left Iraq.
Canon Andrew White, who was based at St George's Church in Baghdad, is understood to have been threatened.
Reports said pamphlets dropped in Shia areas of the city had branded him as "no more than a spy".
The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, of which Canon White is president, referred callers to the Foreign Office.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Canon White has left Iraq. I understand there was a security threat."
She said Canon White was a religious leader and had been in touch with other religious leaders in Iraq about the hostages on a humanitarian basis.
The BBC reported that he has arrived back in Britain.
Four security guards and one financial adviser were snatched by up to 40 men, some dressed in police uniforms, from the finance ministry in Baghdad on May 29 and driven towards Sadr City in the capital.
There has been speculation the group may have been taken in retaliation for the killing of a Mahdi Army militia leader.
Reports said up to 40 police vehicles were at the scene of the kidnapping, sparking rumours that "renegade" officers were involved. Many of the officers were said to be wearing the camouflaged uniforms of Iraqi special police commandos.
