Note #9193 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06158 March 13, 2006
Religious communities mourn U.S. peace activist killed in Iraq
by Chris Herlinger Ecumenical News International
NEW YORK - Religious communities throughout the world are mourning the death of an American Christian peace activist kidnapped in Iraq in November whose body was discovered late last week by U.S. military forces in Baghdad.
Tom Fox, 54, a U.S. Quaker who had journeyed to Baghdad in November with three other members of a Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) brigade, apparently was tortured before he was killed, authorities said.
CPT issued a statement: "Even as we grieve the loss of our beloved colleague, we stand in the light of his strong witness to the power of love and the courage of nonviolence. That light reveals the way out of fear and grief and war."
CPT was set up in 1984 by members of the Mennonite, Brethren and Quaker denominations as a faith-based group of peace activists committed to non-violent action in conflict zones. It has offices in Canada and the United States.
The four activists were abducted on Nov. 26. A group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility. The men were in Iraq on a mission to help Iraqi detainees.
The fate of the others abducted with Fox is not known. They are: Norman Kember of Great Britain, and James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, both of Canada.
The four were last seen together on a videotape broadcast on Jan. 28 by the al-Jazeera news network. They had been threatened with death. The kidnappers said they would be released only if Iraqi prisoners held by U.S. and Iraqi authorities were released.
A videotape broadcast on March 7 showed three of the men, but not Fox.
Quakers attending the Hopewell Center Meeting in Clear Brook, VA, where Fox worshipped when he returned from his stints in Iraq, issued a statement in which they said: "Tom was committed to his work in Iraq, and gave his life in an attempt to bring justice and peace to the Iraqi people."
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