Doha, 7 March. (AKI) - A videotape purporting to show three peace activists who were taken hostage in Iraq in November has been broadcast by Arab television station Al Jazeera. Briton Norman Kember, 74, who was seized in Baghdad with two Canadians and an American in November, appears on the tape which was broadcast without audio. The four captives - who belong to the group Christian Peacemaker - were last seen in a video clip dated 21 January, also aired by Al Jazeera.
The tape broadcast on Monday showed the three men sitting in chairs and speaking, although there was no sound. It was not immediately clear which of the four hostages - James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both from Canada, Tom Fox, 54, an American national, and Norman Kember from London - was not in the video. News reports say that one of those on the tape - believed to be Norman Kember - had white hair and a slight beard, while the two others had dark hair and full beards and all appeared in good health. The four were kidnapped in Baghdad more than three months ago, on 26 November.
A previously unknown group - the Swords of Truth Brigade - claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and has on several occasions threatened to kill them unless all detainees in US and Iraqi prisons are released. |