activists of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), an international violence-reduction organization, an official told BosNewsLife.
"We have seen the footage and I can confirm that they are all members of our organization" said CPT’s Regional Group Development Coordinator, Sara Reschly. "I am happy that they are alive, and we are hopeful they will be released soon," she told BosNewsLife speaking from CPT headquarters in Chicago, without elaborating.
She identified one of the hostages as British professor Norman Kember who is in his 70’s and said the names of the others would be released later Tuesday, November 29, apparently after consulting with relatives and family members. Besides the Briton, an American and two Canadians are being held.
Reschly confirmed the hostages were captured November 26, 2005, in Baghdad and include two members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and two members of a CPT visiting delegation. She added her organization had not been approached by the kidnappers directly.
The kidnappers, calling themselves the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, described the hostages as "four spies working undercover as Christian peace activists," Aljazeera reported. The footage, showed four men and a British passport belonging to Kember.
PASSPORT SHOWN
A white-haired man, shown in the passport photograph, could be seen sitting on the floor next to three other men in the video. In the corner of the video were two crossed black swords and the name of the group written in red Arabic script, Aljazeera said. No demands or specific threats against their lives were made in the tape.
"The video had a date stamp indicating it was recorded on 27 November," the network added. Despite the kidnapping, CPT will remain active in Iraq, Reschly told BosNewsLife. "Everybody knows the risks. But we are committed and have a calling to continue our peace work," she stressed.
CPT has been present in Iraq since October 2002, focusing on documenting and raising public attention on detainee abuses and connecting citizens of Iraq to local and international human rights groups.
"CALL FOR CHRISTIANS"
The organization, which has 54 workers, began its worldwide operations in the trouble spots of the world in 1984 with "a call for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war," CPT said in a statement on its website.
"CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and in the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations."
Christians have often been singled out for kidnapping and violence, human rights groups say. Most of those kidnapped are Iraqis, with foreigners gaining more international attention, Barnabas Fund and other religious rights groups suggested.
GERMAN KIDNAPPED
The fifth kidnapped foreigners in Iraq was a German woman, identified as 43-year-old archaeologist Susanne Osthoffnd, who was abducted along with her driver in recent days, news reports said.
German TV station ARD said it has a video showing the woman and her driver, with kidnappers demanding Germany cut ties with the Iraqi government.
A group of Iranian Muslim upilgrims were also kidnapped in the town of Balad north of the Iraq capital Baghdad. The four men and two women were reportedly seized on a pilgrimage to a Shia Muslim shrine in Samarra.
