Deadline extension bitter-sweet for hostage's family

Harmeet Singh Sooden (left) and James Loney in a video filmed by their captors, who today extended a deadline by two days.

The family of a New Zealand resident being held hostage in Iraq say they are relieved to get more information he is alive, but at the same time the extended wait is causing further distress.

Television news network al-Jazeera this morning reported that the kidnappers of Harmeet Singh Sooden and three other aid workers had extended a deadline for British and United States governments to meet their demands by another two days.

The deadline was originally set for tonight New Zealand time.

Mr Sooden's brother-in-law, Mark Brewer, this morning said the family had no option but to wait for contact from Canadian officials who were providing information as it came to hand.

"It depends on which way you want to interpret it. In one respect he's not home today, and in another at least we know they are alive and well," Mr Brewer said.

Norman Kember, 74, of London; Tom Fox, 54, of the United States; Canadian James Loney, 41; and Mr Sooden, 32, a Canadian who has been living in Auckland, were taken hostage in Baghdad two weeks ago.

They were working for the Christian Peacemaker Teams, an anti-war group.

A group calling itself the Brigade of the Swords of Righteousness have threatened to kill the four unless prisoners in US and Iraqi detention centres are released.

In Brussels, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday said that the demands made by the kidnappers were ones that "no government could meet".

Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today the lack of contact with the Iraqi militants holding the aid workers was hugely frustrating.

Mr Peters said the day of the first deadline had been reached without the Government being able to make contact with the kidnappers.

"I have to admit that it is extraordinary frustrating when, from the Prime Minister down, we have not been able to get to the one key element here and that is the abductors," he told National Radio.

He hoped the militants had been able to see or hear broadcasts of appeals by Muslim leaders for the release of the hostages.

"It's just a matter of hoping that they have got the communications from a number of sources as to the innocence of these people so they know they have the wrong people in their sights," he said.

"That's pretty clear and given the interventions from the Muslim leadership in the United Kingdom and also the most recent one overnight from one of the people imprisoned in the UK."

In the latest appeal, a Jordanian cleric, Abu Qatada, who has been jailed in Britain for links to al Qaeda, said the hostages should not be punished for the policies of their governments.

"I, your brother Abu Qatada...beseech my brothers...who are imprisoning the four Christian peace activists to release them in accordance with the fundamental principle of mercy of our faith," he said.

"Our prophet said mercy should be shown unless there is a reason in Sharia [Islamic law] that prevents it."

The plea, aired on Arab television, was contained in a videotape supplied to al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya channels by his lawyers.

British authorities say Abu Qatada is a leading inspiration for al Qaeda in Europe.

- NZPA