wfn.org | Renewed prayers for captive Christian Peacemakers

["NCC News" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

Latest video of Christian peacemakers in Iraq
raises hopes, but comes with renewed threats

New York, January 30, 2006 -- The first pictures since last November of the
Christian Peacemakers held captive in Iraq shows the four men looking haggard
and gaunt. 

The videotape, broadcast on Al-Jazeera Saturday (January 28) but dated
January 21, was accompanied by the kidnappers' renewed threats to kill the
men unless U.S.-led forces release all Iraqi prisoners.

Friends of the prisoners continue to reflect on the irony that the shadowy
kidnappers selected these devout peace advocates and open critics of the Iraq
war to make their point.
 
Immediately after the Peacemakers were captured, the National Council of
Churches USA, together with FaithfulAmerica.org, participated in an on-line
petition urging their release. (See http://ga3.org/campaign/releasehostages).
The petition, which generated more than 15,000 signatures, was initiated by
Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center of Philadelphia.

Other members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, like people of faith across
the globe, have not ceased praying for their friends or their kidnappers. The
CPT released a message earlier this month: "We hope you are well . . . we
light four candles every morning at worship."

The missing Christian Peacemakers -- Tom Fox,  54, from Clearbrook, Virginia
Norman Kember, 74, from London, England, James Loney, 41, a community worker
from Toronto, Canada, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a Canadian electrical
engineer from Montreal -- were abducted by dissidents who accused them of
being American spies.
 
The kidnappers, who call themselves "The Swords of Righteousness Brigades,"
set several deadlines in December for the U.S. to release its prisoners, but
the deadlines passed without further word.

Since then, the Christian Peacemaker Teams have released statements of
support for their friends.

"We are very worried about our four friends," the CPT said November 30. "We
fear that whoever is holding them has made a mistake. Norman, Tom, James and
Harmeet are four men who came to Iraq to work for peace and explain their
opposition to the occupation. They are not spies." 

The CPT issued a public appeal to the kidnappers on December 6. "While we
believe the action of kidnapping is wrong, we do not condemn you as people,"
the statement said. "We recognize the humanity in each person, and respect it
very much. This includes you, our colleagues, and all people. We believe
there needs to be a force that counters all the resentment, the fear, the
intimidation felt by the Iraqi people. We are trying to be that force: to
speak for justice, to advocate for the human rights of Iraqis, to look at an
Iraqi face and say: my brother, my sister...Perhaps you are men who only want
to raise the issue of illegal detention. We don't know what you may have
endured.  As you can see by the statements of support from our friends in
Iraq and all over the world, we work for those who are oppressed. We also
condemn our own governments for their actions in Iraq."

"It takes courage and a profound faith to reach out with compassion to those
who have harmed you," said Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, Associate General
Secretary of the NCC for International Affairs and Peace."The Christian
Peacemakers have shown that fragile human beings are capable of acting not
out of resentment but out of love. They have lived into the roll of becoming
the 'force that counters all the resentment.'"

Religious groups all over the world -- including Christian and Muslim -- are
praying for the Peacemakers or have issued appeals for their release.

Similarly, religious groups are urging the release of journalist Jill Carroll
who was captured January 7 and threatened with death unless all women
prisoners in Iraq are released. The Council of American-Islamic Relations
said Thursday (January 19), "We . . . call for the immediate and
unconditional release of Jill Carroll, a journalist with a well-documented
record of objective reporting and respect for both the Iraqi people and
Arab-Islamic culture. We ask that her captors show mercy and compassion by
releasing her so that she may return to her family. Certainly, no cause can
be advanced by harming a person who only sought to let the world know about
the human suffering caused by the conflict in Iraq."

"Clearly the cycle of violence is resulting in more violence," Kireopoulos
said. "This war must end."

Contact: NCC News, Philip E.  Jenks, 212-870-2252, pjenks@ncccusa.org; or
Leslie Tune, 202-544-2350, ltune@ncccusa.org