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December 2, 2005
Iraq: Islamists Threaten To Kill Christian Hostages
A group of four Christains, who went missing on Saturday 26 November and were subsequently filmed as hostages to a group called "Swords of Righteousness" are now being threatened with death.
Film of the group was shown on Al Jazeera television on 29 November, in which the captors accuse the four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams of being spies, as reported in the Washington Times and the UK Telegraph.
Their group is anti-war and their purpose for being in the country is said to be not involved with proselytising but communication on civil rights issues. The four were kidnapped as they left a mosque in Baghdad, after speaking there on issues of human rights abuses.
The kidnap victims are:
Messrs Loney and Fox appear to be full-time members of the team. Mr Sooden is an electrical engineer, and Mr Kember, a long-time peace activist and former professor of physics at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, was with the group in a mission to talk to emerging Iraqi civil society groups, and also to the US military. The delegation arrived only a week and a day before they were abducted.
The video of their capture, states the Telegraph differs in the manner of style from previous videos.
In contrast with several previous videos of kidnapped Westerners, the hostages were not required to issue any kind of message, whether personal or political, and the hostage-takers made no specific demands.The group, "Swords of Righteousness" has not been heard of until now, but the Telegraph writer may have been too optimistic.There was no sign of the threatening paraphernalia common in other hostage videos, such as shackles, cages, Guantanamo-style orange suits, hoods or captors armed with guns or knives.
These signs may raise hopes that the kidnappers are less extreme than those who have beheaded captives in the past, or may simply be criminals seeking a ransom.
Today, according to the Associated Press, via USA Today, their lives have been threatened in a second video broadcast today on Al Jazeera television.
On this video, the governments of Iraq and the US are ordered to close down their detention centres and prisoners released. The hostages are to be killed if these demands are not met.
There was mention that the hostages may have been taken as part of the increase of insurgent attacks on individuals to destablilise the country in the run up to parliamentary elections on December 15.
On Sunday 20 November, a member of the Islamic Party was kidnapped and later killed, and on Monday 21, another member of his party was discovered shot after a kidnapping.
On Friday, a German archeologist and peace campaigner, Susanne Osthoff and her driver were abducted.
On Saturday six Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped, with two women amongst them being susbequently freed.
On Monday, three Shia Muslim pilgrims from Britain were killed by gunfire in the Dora area of Baghdad. Husain Mohammed Ali, aged 50, of Harrow, north London, and Saifuddin Makai, aged 39, from Streatham, south London, died at the scene of the attack. The third, 60-year old Yahya Gulamali, of Greenford, west London, died the following day.
Today, there was a memorial service for the three at the Husaini Masjid Mosque in Northolt, according to the Borehamwood Times. The three men were described as close friends.
Mr Mohammeds had three daughters and a son. His eldest daughter, 16 year old Zainab said: "We are completely gobsmacked and my mum is finding it hard to cope. My father was a deeply religious man, his religion was his life. Therefore he sacrificed himself for his religion. We have been attending the mosque and praying and they are holding services in the evening."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 2, 2005 5:27 PM
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