Hostages' group seeks meeting with Bush

Harmeet Sooden

A Christian organisation that has four of its members being held hostage in Iraq is seeking a meeting with United States President George W. Bush.

Auckland student Harmeet Sooden, 32, and fellow captives Tom Fox, 54, an American, James Loney, 41, of Canada, and Norman Kember, a 74-year-old retired British professor, are all members of Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Theological news website Ekklesia reported yesterday that the organisation had written seeking a meeting with Mr Bush and would hold a fast and vigil outside the White House.

The group would gather in Lafayette Park today and remain until noon on Sunday or until a meeting with the President was granted.

The hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad on November 29.

Their captors, members of the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, threatened to kill them if the United States and Britain did not free Iraq detainees by December 12.

The deadline for their demands passed without word of the hostages' fate.

Western officials have yet to make any firm contact with the kidnappers.

Mr Sooden's brother-in-law, Mark Brewer, told Associated Press that Canadian officials were "still waiting to get ... solid, concrete contact, and that's been one of the frustrating things of this whole case. It's very difficult dealing with people you're not in contact with."

Canada has taken the lead role in seeking to have the abductees freed.

Terrorism expert Paul Buchanan, who teaches politics at Auckland University, said this week the fact that no word had been heard from the kidnappers probably meant a ransom was being negotiated.

- NZPA