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Kidnappers threaten to kill Christian hostages
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-03 09:14
The men were kidnapped at the same place where Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter
for the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, was seized Feb. 4 and held for a month
by a group calling itself Mujahedeen Without Borders. That group had not been
known before and has not been heard from since, but may be using a different
name.
The Christian activists ¡ª Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va.; Norman Kember,
74, of London; James Loney, 41, of Toronto; and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, of
Canada ¡ª had been repeatedly warned by Iraqi and Western security officials that
they were taking a grave risk by moving about Baghdad without bodyguards.
"He was in Iraq solely for peaceful purposes and was passionate about taking
an active role in giving humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people. There were no
other motives for him to go to Iraq," Sooden's family said in a statement.
Sooden's brother-in-law, Mark Brewer, said the captor's demand was
impractical.
"It couldn't be much worse, could it?" Brewer told The Canadian Press from
Auckland, New Zealand. "The family is shocked and devastated by the latest
developments, and we'll be watching the news anxiously."
Kember's family said he was opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq.
"He was in Iraq because of human rights abuses against the Iraqi people," the
family said in a statement.
Loney's family said they, like the others, were praying for his release.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said Friday his government was
cooperating with the Iraqi, American and British governments in Iraq in an
effort to gain their freedom.
"They came to help the people of Iraq; they are men of faith," he said. "We
will do all we can to get these men back home."
The earlier video, broadcast Tuesday on Al-Jazeera, showed the four men
sitting on the floor. The camera revealed Kember's passport.
A German archaeologist, Susanne Osthoff, 43, also disappeared recently. On a
video made public Nov. 29, kidnappers threatened to kill her unless Germany
stops dealing with the Iraqi government. Osthoff, who speaks Arabic, had helped
distribute aid in Iraq.
The new abductions of Westerners come after a monthslong hiatus. The gruesome
killings of past hostages have brought criticism from many Arabs, including an
influential Egyptian cleric who issued a fatwa saying that since Iraq remains in
a state of war, the kidnapping of those involved in the war is allowed but
hostages should not be killed.
Some security experts believe the surge of kidnappings may be a result of lax
security, attempts by insurgents to mix up tactics in an intense period of car
bombings and suicide attacks ¡ª or a desire to disrupt this month's elections.
Insurgents, including al-Qaida in Iraq, have seized more than 225 people in
Iraq, killing at least 38.
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