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sonz
12-26-2005, 07:13 PM
THE family and friends of Norman Kember, the British hostage held in Iraq, spent Christmas Day praying for his release as a new appeal for his safe return was prepared for Iraqi radio.

There has been no news of the 74-year-old Baptist peace campaigner from Pinner, northwest London, since the December 10 deadline his captors set for his execution. Mr Kember’s wife, Pat, 72, spent yesterday at an undisclosed address in Britain with her two daughters and three-year-old grandson.

NI_MPU('middle');A friend of the family said that his capture had deepened Mrs Kember’s faith in God but that she was anxious for reassurance that her husband is well. Friends at College Road Baptist Church in Harrow, northwest London — where Mr Kember worships — devoted a special prayer to the release of hostages yesterday.

A spokesman for the church said: “We have been praying for him and all of the hostages who have been captured in Iraq. It has been an especially poignant day because Norman has not been here. If he had been here, he would have played a part in the service. For us, the word ‘hostage’ has been made flesh this Christmas.”

Yesterday’s dedications follow a vigil on Wednesday for Mr Kember held in Trafalgar Square.

Mr Kember, an expert in medical physics, was seized in Baghdad on November 26, with James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both Canadians, and Tom Fox, 54, an American.

The Swords of Righteousness Brigade, which has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, had threatened to kill the group unless Iraqi prisoners were released. The families of the four men have issued a joint appeal for their safe return which will be broadcast in Arabic across Iraq tomorrow. The appeal will say: “A month has passed since our loved ones — Norman, James, Harmeet and Tom — were kidnapped in Iraq. In this time, Iraq has held elections for a constitutionally-elected government. This is a new start for Iraq and Iraqis to take control of their own destiny. It is a time for new starts.”

It will continue: “Many clerics and religious figures from the Arab and Muslim world have spoken over the past weeks of the good work they were doing in Iraq and that their organisation has done in Palestine, and they have called for their release.

“If you have any information which can help, please call . . .”

The appeal follows similar statements from the hostages’ families published in Iraqi newspapers this weekend. A video released on December 7 showed Mr Kember shackled and blindfolded and wearing an orange boiler suit similar to those worn by detainees held by the US in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said yesterday that officials would continue to work through the Christmas period for his release. He added: “There have been no new developments in relation to the kidnapping of Norman Kember and his colleagues since the release of the video.” Voices from across the Muslim world have called for the hostages to be freed. Abu Qatada, Britain’s highest- profile terrorist suspect, has even made an appeal from his maximum security prison cell. The Muslim Association of Britain renewed its plea yesterday to Mr Kember’s captors for his release. In a televised appeal on al-Jazeera, the Arabic television station, Azzam Tamimi, spokesman of the association, said: “Norman Kember and his three friends were in Iraq as true friends of the Iraqi people. They were there to highlight the issues, concerns and the sufferings of the Iraqi people and the occupation and it will not help the cause of Iraq and the Iraqis by taking hostage such people,” he said.
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Muezzin
12-26-2005, 11:29 PM
Why the media blackout? First the media say that the terrorists would kill him, now a few weeks on from the deadline - nada. Zilch. Surely they'd tell us something. What kind of terrorist organisation threatens to kill hostages, then doesn't publicise the results of missing a deadline?

Food for thought....
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