Hostage a peacemaker, say family

Preety Brewer, sister of hostage Harmeet Singh Sooden, with her husband Mark. Picture / Kenny Rodger

It's an odd thing, watching your brother on television playing the real-life role of a hostage in Iraq.

Usually, Harmeet Singh Sooden would sit in the leather chair next to his sister Preety and brother-in-law Mark Brewer in their Blockhouse Bay, Auckland, home.

"It's so out of context," says Mr Brewer. "Usually he's sitting right next to us. Now we're watching him on television, this grainy video with swords in the corner. It's like a bad movie. It's unbelievable, it's surreal."

Surreal indeed, to spend your Saturday afternoon doing a PR job on your brother in a bid to save his life.

But for the family of Mr Sooden, who has spent the past six days as a captive of a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, it's all they can do.

They want the kidnappers to know that Mr Sooden, a Canadian citizen usually resident in New Zealand, is a loving humanitarian and a wonderful son, brother and friend. They want them to know that he is a gentle scholar, a hard worker, a great squash player and a peacemaker.

They pray that the captors - themselves sons, brothers, even fathers - will realise they have the wrong people and release him and the other three hostages.

Harmeet means 'friend of God', says Mrs Sooden, and the family say that's his way of living. He is not religious, just passionate, and holds no prejudice against anyone.

There is no bitterness, says Preety, just sadness, as she watches her older brother sitting expressionless on stained concrete somewhere in war-torn Iraq.

The family found out yesterday that the kidnappers were threatening Mr Sooden's life when they were phoned by a Canadian newspaper.

They turned on the television to CNN and soon saw the video.

They were relieved, again, in a surreal way, to see he was alive and well. There was food in the picture and he did not look like he had been abused.

Despite recent high-profile kidnappings of civilians in Iraq, the family didn't turn their minds to the possibility that Mr Sooden would become one of them.

After all, he was going there in peace, to help others, so the last thing they expected was for him to be seen as a target.

But now they find themselves in the same position of too many families before them, effectively at the mercy of the whim of his kidnappers and foreign governments.

More than 220 foreigners have been taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents since the US-led occupation began in March 2003. Many have appeared in videos pleading for their lives before being brutally murdered - often by beheading.

Nearly 40 hostages have been killed by their captors, according to the Associated Press, but several have been released after mediation or have escaped.

Mr Brewer says they understand the Canadian government is the appropriate body to take the lead on the matter.

But he admits it is difficult that Mr Sooden's fate comes down to a matter of national borders.

"Seeing that he's so happy to help the world, it would be nice to think the world would help him back."

They were contacted on Friday by a Foreign Affairs Ministry representative who was "very supportive". But before that, the family felt the New Zealand Government had left them in the dark.

"I guess in some respects we've found it a bit of a black hole in terms of government action and reaction. It would be great if we hadn't had to contact them, if they'd tried to call us. If the media can get hold of us, then they can. They sure do at tax time."

They laugh. Despite the obvious trauma the family are going through, they remain upbeat.

Shy and humble, Mr Sooden tried to avoid the limelight. He'd be hating all the fuss about him. "He'd be horrified. He hates having his photo taken," laughs Mr Brewer.

But the couple miss him terribly and are desperate to reunite their family. The smiles, the matter-of-factness, the calm appearance, are all a front.

"It's almost a conditioned response. It's not until everybody leaves that we all sit down and get pretty emotional about it. We have to be like this or else we wouldn't function and if we don't function, we can't help," says Mr Brewer.

Their immediate priority is to bring their father here from their parents' home in Zambia. Their mother was already here on holiday when Mr Sooden went to Iraq.

They are thinking about the next step, about when Thursday comes and hopefully goes without taking their brother with it.

"We're optimistic. It appears to me that the captors have asked for something they can't achieve. I would like to think that on Thursday, they'll be asking for something else."

They hold no resentment that Ms Sooden's brother is going through hell for the sake of others so far away, because of battles fought between other governments.

"We're also pretty philosophical. They could be quite respectable people that believe in a cause and feel desperate enough to do this for it. They are probably fathers and brothers and sons themselves. Let's keep this human. They believe in something, Harmeet believes in something."

They are still considering going to Iraq but only if it would help. "We don't want people to be holding our hands when they should be concentrating on our brother." Mr Brewer has one thing to say to his brother-in-law: "The first thing I can think of is 'come home'!"

- HERALD ON SUNDAY