Home > Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim group calls for release of hostages

Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim group calls for release of hostages

by Open-Publishing - Monday 5 December 2005
3 comments

International Attack-Terrorism

Baghad - Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim party called Saturday for the release of Western hostages in Iraq, saying such kidnappings tarnish the image of Islam and will have negative effect on those who call for ending the U.S. military presence.

The Iraqi Islamic party cited the four members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams - two Canadians, a Briton and an American - who were taken hostage in Baghdad on Nov. 26. The kidnappers have threatened to kill them on Thursday if Iraqi prisoners are not released from American and Iraqi jails.

"The Iraqi Islamic party calls the kidnappers to release them because continuing to hold them will give those who support the war against our country a chance to say that Iraqi’s don’t make a difference between those who support them and those who are against them" the party’s statement said.

"The kidnapping will have a grave negative effect among those who call for ending occupation," the statement said. "There are some who are trying to tarnish the clear white image of our religion."

Jim Loney, 41, of Toronto, and Harmeet Sooden, 32, formerly of Montreal, along with Briton Norman Kember, 74, and American Tom Fox, 54, were grabbed off a west Baghdad street at gunpoint a week ago.

On Friday, Al-Jazeera news channel showed footage of the hostages.

The Canadians were shown eating from plates of what appeared to be Arabic sweets. In a second clip, the Briton and American were shown talking to the camera, but no audio was transmitted.

Quoting the kidnappers’ statement, Al-Jazeera said the two were calling on the U.S. and British governments to withdraw from Iraq.

Prime Minister Paul Martin said the federal government was doing everything possible "to get these men back home, home to their families."

Canada has no official diplomatic presence in Iraq.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...

Forum posts

  • An international group of American art thieves has highjacked the a German archiologist.

    Get this American bastards.

    • Whats is interesting about this hostage taking is that the only group to really benefit are the US and UK military. This group was in Iraq before the invasion, speaking out against the sanctions etc. They were very focal in their opposition to the invasion and continued to be a thorn in the side of the Occupation Forces ever since...I am normally not given to entertaining many of ’the conspiracy theories’ which abound, but with the US military paying and planting stories in the "Iraq Free Press"? this operation is probably directed by Occupation black-ops...who has ever heard of this ’new terrorist group’ before?, like CIA front companies to transport alleged terrorists to prisons around the world, this group may well disappear like the front companies, once this particular mission has been accomplished. If so many journalists can die in significant numbers accidentally ? whats a few Christians, George Bush is ranting virtually every day now as the propaganda war is being lost as well as the military one.

      cheers, jt

    • Additional information extracted from a Znet article:

      Back in November of 2003, while sitting in Amman, Jordan waiting to go into Iraq, I met a member of CPT who had been working in Palestine. He told me he was walking with Palestinian children as they went to school, in order to prevent them from being attacked by Israeli settlers.

      Later I would learn that this same individual had returned to Palestine and was beaten so severely by Israeli settlers that he was hospitalized for several weeks.

      Last Thanksgiving, November 24, 2004 I shared a meal with members of their team in Baghdad, along with several of our Iraqi friends. We gave thanks together for being in Baghdad in solidarity with our Iraqi brothers and sisters. All of us – the CPT members and myself — were then and remain fully committed to getting out the truth about the illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq.
      ,,,,
      This is what the members of CPT do in Baghdad. I’ve seen them do this first-hand. They graciously opened their files of documents to me when I was working on stories about Iraqis who have been in US military detention centers inside Iraq. They have worked extensively on fighting for the rights of Iraqi detainees and supporting their families. The team documents home raids conducted by the US military, and have worked to assist internally displaced people (refugees) inside of Iraq who are left homeless by heavy-handed US military operations such as those in Fallujah and Al-Qa’im.

      In addition, CPT has been instrumental in bringing media attention to villages and towns in Iraq which have suffered collective punishment by the US military. ( excerpts from Znet article)