By Kylie MacLellan

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A businessman held by U.S. forces in Iraq for eight weeks believes he is being detained because a pacemaker he developed was mistaken for a bomb, his wife said.

Kadhum Ridha Al-Sarraj, 29, an Iraqi national who lives in London and has temporary British residency, was arrested when he arrived at Erbil airport in northern Iraq on Sept. 15 for a business trip.

The Americans are holding about 17,000 Iraqis, the vast majority of whom have never been charged with a crime.

Sarraj's British wife, Shereen Nasser, 24, said her husband believed that a pacemaker he developed as a student and which was later stolen had fallen into American hands. When his fingerprints matched those on the device he was arrested, she believed.

"They told him when they were questioning him that there was no case against him...and that he will be released, we just don't know when," Nasser said.

The family of Sarraj, a salesman with Iraqi medical equipment supplier Matana, has only been able to visit him once.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was looking into the case but as Sarraj is not a British national, it could not offer consular assistance.

Tom Brake, an opposition Liberal Democrat lawmaker for the south London suburb where the couple live, told Reuters he had written twice to the U.S. ambassador in London calling for Sarraj to be released or charged but had not received a reply.

Maj. Neal Fisher, spokesman for U.S. detention operations in Iraq said he had no immediate comment. The U.S. military claims authority to detain anyone in Iraq it deems a threat and hold them indefinitely without charge.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in London said he could not comment on individual cases.

AlertNet news is provided by