No news but Iraq based colleagues of hostage remain hopeful

Harmeet Singh Sooden

A Baghdad-based colleague of kidnapped Auckland man Harmeet Singh Sooden and three fellow Christian peace activists says she remains hopeful despite eight days passing since the expiry of a deadline on their lives.

"We have heard nothing, but we are hopeful," Anita David, a Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) member stationed in Baghdad told the Christian Post an online Christian news service.

"There has been such an extraordinary outpouring of support, especially from the Muslim community, that we still have high hopes for their safe return."

Mr Sooden, Tom Fox, James Loney and Norman Wheeler were kidnapped at gunpoint in Baghdad on November 26.

Their captors, a group that calls itself the 'Swords of Righteousness,' set a December 10 deadline for all Iraqi prisoners in United States and British custody to be released and threatened to kill the hostages if their demands were not met.

Both the US and British governments have rejected those demands.

Ms David, who has met all four kidnapped men and has worked with American Tom Fox for several months, said prayer had been a stronghold for the CPT members awaiting news of their colleagues' condition.

Meanwhile Mr Sooden's family told the Sunday Star-Times of the "burden" of not having urged the Auckland student to reconsider his ill-fated peacemaking trip to Iraq.

Mark Brewer, Mr Sooden's brother-in-law, said yesterday the family still supported his trip "in many respects".

But the fact the family knew only sketchy details of his visit and had done little to urge him to reconsider "adds to our burden a little bit".

"There was some apprehension, but not a great deal," he told the newspaper. "As a happy family, we don't spend much time discussing negative feelings."

Mr Sooden was a quiet man who didn't talk a lot about his activities.

The family remained optimistic about Mr Sooden's fate, insisting it was "not a case of if but when he comes home", despite officials saying there has been no contact from the kidnappers for 10 days.

- NZPA