Sooden's family to make new appeal in Iraq

An early video grab from a broadcast by Al Jazeera, with New Zealand hostage Harmeet Singh Sooden at left.

The families of four kidnapped Christian peace activists, including Aucklander Harmeet Singh Sooden, will make a new appeal for their release in Iraqi newspapers, according to an Associated Press (AP) report today.

AP said they obtained details of the advertisement from Britain's Foreign Office.

No news has been received about the fate of the men since a group claiming responsibility for their capture imposed a December 10 deadline for their killings.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade had threatened to kill the group if the United States and Britain did not release all detainees in Iraq.

Sooden - a 32-year-old Canadian citizen and New Zealand resident who has been studying at Auckland University for the past three years - Briton Norman Kember, 74, James Loney, 41, and American Tom Fox, 54, were abducted in Baghdad on November 26.

All four were working in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams, a Canadian-based organisation that has investigated allegations of abuse against Iraqi prisoners.

The newspaper advertisement, which will be published in Arabic over next three days, reads: "A month has passed since our loved ones - Norman, James, Harmeet and Tom - were kidnapped in Iraq.

"In this time, Iraq has held elections for a constitutionally elected government. This is a new start for Iraq and Iraqis to take control of their own destiny. It is a time for new starts.

"Many clerics and religious figures from the Arab and Muslim world have spoken over the past weeks of the good work they were doing in Iraq and that their organisation has done in Palestine, and they have called for their release.

"We appeal to you to help us ensure the safe return of our relatives," the AP report indicates the advertisement as saying.

The ad also contains a phone number for those who may have information.

A Foreign Office spokesman, speaking to AP on customary condition of anonymity, said nothing has been heard from the captors since a video was released on December 7.

Supporters of the men have expressed hope that the lack of news of their fate indicates they may still be alive.

British Muslim envoy Anas Altikriti, who went to Iraq to meet Sunni Muslim leaders and appeal for the hostages' release, said last week that the lack of communication had made him "slightly more hopeful".

"Had there been action taken against the hostages, we would have heard about it by now," he told AP.