external image
Al-Jazeera has aired a video of four western hostages kidnapped in Iraq last Saturday. The captors claim that the hostages (one Briton, two Canadians
and one American) are undercover spies working as Christian peace activists. The captors also showed the passport of the British hostage. A BBC
corespondant said the hostages did not look distressed and that it was a postive sign that no gunmen were visible.
news.bbc.co.uk
No demands or specific threats against their lives were made in the tape.
It bears all the hallmarks of a political kidnapping, not one for money, our correspondent says.
The footage had a date stamp indicating it was recorded on 27 November.
A US-based group which says it is involved in violence-reduction programmes confirmed on Tuesday that four of its members had been seized in Baghdad.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) said its teams of trained peacemakers "work in areas of lethal conflict around the world."
The organisation said it had been present in Iraq since April 2003, "providing first-hand, independent reports from the region, working with detainees
of both US and Iraqi forces, training others in non-violent intervention, and human rights documentation," according to a statement.
The UK Foreign Office issued a statement "utterly condemning" the kidnapping and the video.
"The release of this video can only cause further distress to their families at this difficult time," a statement said.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
As we have seen in the past the fact that the hostages do not look distressed means nothing.
These people are just plain evil and are capable of anything.
Lets just hope and pray that this is solved peacefully without anymore unneccasary bloodshed!
