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| Western Hostages Appeal for Release |
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Three of four Christian peace activists held hostage in Iraq were shown in a video played on Al-Jazeera television Tuesday and looked in good health. The men had called on Gulf Arab leaders and their own governments to help free them, the station said. The video, dated February 28, was the first since the hostage-takers said in January that US-led forces had one last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or the men would be killed. The men shown appeared to be Briton Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sooden. The three along with American Tom Fox were kidnapped in November. The video showed the three men sitting in a room. They appeared in good health and were speaking to the camera, but their voices could not be heard. A group calling itself the Swords of Truth kidnapped the men in Baghdad, where they were working with a Christian peace organization. Britain's Foreign Office called for their immediate release. "To release a video of this kind is obviously extremely distressing for the relatives and our thoughts are with them as well as with the victims, who have been held now for more than 100 days," the Foreign Office said in a statement. "They are peace campaigners dedicated to helping other people and should be freed immediately to spare both them and their families further distress." Muslim scholars and activists from around the world have appealed for the release of the aid workers. More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Fifty-four foreign hostages are known to have been executed by their captors. (China Daily March 8, 2006)
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