A British Christian has been abducted whilst investigating human rights abuses in Iraq with a group called the Christian Peacemakers Team. An unknown Iraqi group has issued a video of four western hostages calling them spies, Al Jazeera television has reported.
Al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video on Tuesday showing four peace activists taken hostage in Iraq, with a previously unknown group claiming responsibility for the kidnappings. The Swords of Righteousness Brigade said the four were spies working undercover as Christian peace activists, Al-Jazeera said. The station said it could not verify any of the information on the tape.Yesterday, Nov. 28th as news spread of the hostage-taking, efforts were made to identify the kidnappers of Norman Kember, 74. Friends of the human rights missionary spoke of his life-long opposition to violence, and about his great efforts to promote peace and reconciliation.
Kember, who is married with a daughter, is currently retired but previously worked as a professor of medical physics at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
During the hostage-taking, Kember was taken captive along with two Canadians and an American at the weekend as he departed from a Mosque in Baghdad. He had been meeting local leaders to take part in discussions on human rights abuses.
Kember himself was not a member of the Peacemakers Team but did arrive as part of a delegation ten days ago to meet with representatives of non-governmental organisations, as well as with Iraqi civil society groups and the US military.
Scheduled into the delegation’s plans were visits to hospitals, mosques, churches and schools in the region, and in particular it was an aim to visit as many Iraqis as possible whose loved-ones had been detained by the previous Iraqi regime or the US forces.Mr Kember is also a former secretary of the Baptist Peace Fellowship, as well as being a trustee for the Fellowship for Reconciliation.
The Director of the Fellowship for Reconciliation, Chris Cole stated, “All members and supporters of our organisation are praying for him and his wife, Pat.”
Rev Alan Betteridge, who is one of the presidents of the Baptist Peace Fellowship described Kember as a man of integrity, and commented, “He is also a man with a sense of humour and I hope that the humour and the faith together will sustain him through this trying time.”
The Christian Peacemakers Team has approximately 40 full-time members across the world, in addition to about 150 part-time workers, with short-term delegates given the opportunity to visit countries in two-week spells.
Canon Andrew White, who is the chief executive of the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRME), has been called to work with the Foreign Office and the Iraqi authorities also, to try to identify the kidnappers. As of yet he has been unable to offer a comment.
Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary said, “I discussed this matter this morning with the foreign minister [Hoshyar Zebari] of Iraq. He has pledged every assistance from the Iraqi government. This is a very difficult and very worrying situation for Mr Kember and his family.”
