Editors, Electronic Iraq 23 March 2006
Three Christian Peacemaker Teams hostages held for nearly four months in Baghdad were freed today by a multinational force. All reports indicate that no shots were fired and none of the captors were present at the time of the raid, reportedly led by British troops. Briton Norman Kember, 74 and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 were found inside a house in western Baghdad with their hands tied. They were taken to the British Embassy inside the fortified “Green Zone.”
The three were abducted on November 26th. The body of a forth CPT hostage, American Tom Fox, was found on March 10th.
A statement released by CPT, the organization wrote about each of the four (see CPT Release).
The BBC reports that “the crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came only after two men were captured by US forces on Wednesday night.
“One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal.
“‘We got that information at 0800 (0500 GMT) this morning and we conducted the operation,’ Maj Gen Rick Lynch.
“‘We moved to the location in western Baghdad that was reported for the location of the Christian Peacemaker Team.’
“‘We conducted an assault on the house and inside the house we found the three hostages, in good condition.’”
“British forces were involved in this operation,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement released today, “It follows weeks and week of very careful work by military and coalition personnel in Iraq, and many civilians as well.
“I have, on the two occasions that I’ve been to Iraq since Christmas, spoken to the great team that has been involved in trying to secure the release of these hostages and I’m delighted that now we have a happy ending to this terrible ordeal for Norman Kember, for his family, for the Canadian hostages and for their families as well.
“I spoke about half an hour ago to Mrs Kember. The Foreign Office have kept in very close touch with her, and I have spoken to her from time to time and of course, it goes without saying that she is absolutely delighted, elated, with this news.
“But the family will need time and space to deal with what is happy news, and I hope that the British and international media will respect their wishes here.”
Electronic Iraq will continue to follow this developing story.
CPT has been present in Iraq since October 2002, providing first-hand, independent reports from the region, working with detainees of both United States and Iraqi forces, and training others in non-violent intervention and human rights documentation. Christian Peacemaker Teams is a violence reduction program. Teams of trained peacemakers work in areas of lethal conflict around the world.
If you want to send condolences to Fox’s family, send them to Family of Tom Fox, c/o Christian Peacemaker Teams, P.O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680-6508
