Four peace activists, including a Briton, taken hostage in Iraq were accused of being spies in a video released last night by a previously unknown group of insurgents. In a development which one terrorism expert said was "ominous" the kidnappers, who called themselves the Swords of Righteousness brigade, said Norman Kember and the three other men held with him had been masquerading as Christian peace activists in the country to work as spies.
| I think we all know what's going to happen real soon now ... |
Mr Kember, 74, was pictured in the video seated next to three other men, who are believed to be an American and two Canadians taken with him from western Baghdad on Saturday. Their identities have yet to be confirmed. Unlike in some previous videos released by kidnappers in Iraq, Mr Kember and his colleagues were not caged and were not made to wear orange overalls like those worn by terror suspects held by the US at Guantánamo Bay.
| Because the perps don't plan on leaving any witnesses alive ... |
Dressed in a hacking jacket, the retired medical physicist who was in Iraq as part of a Christian Peacemaker team, sat motionless as the camera panned across the group of hostages. Shots of Mr Kember's passport were also displayed in the video, released through the Arab television station al-Jazeera. In the corner of the screen two crossed black swords could be seen and the name of the group written in red in Arabic script. The date on the video was November 27 2005, the day after the men were abducted.
Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert, said the insurgents were adopting tactics used during the civil war in Lebanon in the 1980's. "These names they use are often just grabbed out of the air, a tactic which goes back to Beirut. This sort of discourse about spying and acting on behalf of enemy forces is always ominous," Mr Ranstorp said.
| Plus it plays hell on the Thugburg index ... |
"One has a sense that this is not going to end in a nice fashion. Beirut and what happened to Terry Waite, also shows that the fact these men are Christians does not give them immunity from being fair game. On the contrary for some it may be convenient that they are Christians, it may serve their purposes."
Bruce Kent, former chairman of CND, and a friend of Mr Kember, dismissed any suggestion that he was a spy. "The last thing he would do would be working for the British government," he said.
| "Don't you dare accuse my friend of being a patriot!" he added. |
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