Baghdad, Iraq – Al-Jazeera broadcast video Tuesday of four Western peace activists held hostage by a previously unknown group, part of a new wave of kidnappings police fear is aimed at disrupting next month’s elections.
The Arab news station said the four were seized by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, who claimed they were spies working under the cover of Christian peace activists. The captives – an American, a Briton and two Canadians – were members of the Chicago-based aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams.
The footage showed Norman Kember, a retired British professor with a shock of white hair, sitting on the floor with three other men. The camera revealed the 74-year-old Kember’s passport, but the other hostages were not identified.
But Christian Peacemaker Teams confirmed the others were Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va.; James Loney, 41, of Toronto; and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a Canadian electrical engineer. They had been missing since Saturday.
The brief, blurry tape was shown the same day German TV displayed a photo of a blindfolded German archaeologist being led away by armed captors in Iraq. The kidnappers threatened to kill Susanne Osthoff and her Iraqi driver unless Germany halts all contacts with the Iraqi government.
Also Tuesday, two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, a Sunni cleric was assassinated as he left a mosque, and six Iranian pilgrims were seized near a Shiite religious shrine.
In a statement, Christian Peacemaker Teams said it strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and blamed the kidnapping on coalition forces.
Christian Peacemaker Teams does not consider itself a missionary organization, a spokeswoman said.
“We are very strict about this: We do not do any evangelism, we are not missionaries,” Jessica Phillips said in Chicago. “Our interest is to bring an end to the violence and destruction of civilian life in Iraq.”
The group’s first activists went to Iraq in 2002, six months before the U.S.-led invasion, Phillips said, adding that a main mission since the invasion has been documenting alleged human-rights abuses by U.S. forces.
Germany has ruled out sending troops to Iraq and opposed the U.S.-led war but has been training Iraqi police and military outside the country.
The six Iranian pilgrims were seized Tuesday near a Shiite religious shrine north of Baghdad, police said. Iranian television reported that all were freed Tuesday night. Iraq and Iran agreed this year to exclude pilgrim visits to shrines in Baghdad and Samarra because of the dangerous security situation.
Iraq was swept by a wave of kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in 2004 and early 2005, but such attacks have dropped off recently as many Western groups have left and security precautions for those who remain have tightened.
