100 Gather at Prayer Vigil for Safe Return of Hostages in Iraq

|TOP|Around 100 people gathered in Trafalgar Square in London on the 4th and 5th of March, to hold a silent vigil marking 100 days since Briton Norman Kember was taken hostage in Iraq.

During the hour-long vigil, prayers were said for the safe release of the 74-year-old peace activist and his fellow captives who were kidnapped with during a mission in Baghdad by a group demanding the release of Iraqi prisoners.

A body calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade claimed to be holding the men, who were abducted in Baghdad on November 26 last year.

Rev Alan Betteridge, president of the Baptist Peace Fellowship and a friend of Mr Kember's for over 40 years, said churches throughout the UK had been asked to open their doors this weekend to allow people to pray for the hostages.

"It has been a weekend for prayer but also raising awareness of the situation because there is no news from Baghdad and so it's easy to forget the hostages," he said.

The hostages were last seen earlier this year, Jan. 28th, when video footage was screened on Al-Jazeera television showing the four Christian Peacemakers, Norman Kember, Tom Fox, Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney.

|AD|The grainy 55-second film clip, which is dated January 21, was the first concrete evidence the four are alive since a previous video was released on December 7.

"On the one hand you are glad they are still alive but on the other you wonder what is happening to them after 100 days," Rev Alan Betteridge said.

Although The Swords of Righteousness said this was the last chance for US and Iraqi authorities to release all Iraqi prisoners before the four would be killed, Christian Peacemaker Teams member Beth Pyles told the BBC: "On a practical level we have the video tape of 28 January that was seen around the world that showed all our guys.

"And although they're a lot thinner, they are very much alive, and there's nothing that's happened since January 28th that would lead us to believe there is anything other than life for them."

This week, Kember’s wife released a new statement saying: “Norman has always been involved in peace-making activities ever since he chose to do hospital work instead of national service. He went with a peace team to support those who were suffering in Iraq. On 26 November he and Tom, James and Harmeet were taken as hostages. Two videos have been shown and two dead-lines have passed.”

She told how the period since her husband’s abduction had been highly traumatic, but also added, “We have been wonderfully supported by our friends, by church people of all denominations, by people of other faiths, including Muslims and by hundreds of well-wishers worldwide. I'd like to thank everyone who is taking the time and trouble to pray and to send cards, letters and flowers.”