The
captors of four Western peace activists in Iraq said US-led forces
had one last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or they would kill the
hostages, Al Jazeera television said on Saturday.
The Arabic channel aired a video from the Swords of Truth group,
apparently showing the two Canadians, one Briton and one American
standing against a wall. The grainy footage, shot in a dark room,
was dated January 21.
The hostages appeared to be speaking to the camera but their voices
could not be heard.
Briton Norman Kember, American Tom Fox and Canadians James Loney
and Harmeet Sooden were kidnapped on November 26 in Baghdad, where
they were working with a Christian peace organisation, by the
previously unknown Swords of Truth.
"The group ... said it was giving a last chance for its demands to
be met through the release of Iraqi prisoners in American and Iraqi
prisons in exchange for the release of the four hostages," the
television said.
The Swords of Truth earlier issued a video of the four men and
accused them of spying for US-led forces. It threatened to kill
them unless prisoners in Iraqi jails were freed.
Reverend Alan Betteridge, president of the Baptist Peace Fellowship
to which Kember, 74, belongs, said he was happy to see evidence the
four were alive but concerned over the threat.
"We are glad to have some evidence that the four captives are still
alive but we are very sad that the captors still repeat this threat
of killing them that they issued two months ago," Betteridge, a
close friend of Kember, told Reuters.
"We're very sorry that they're still talking in those violent terms
after all the appeals from the Muslim world and others for the
release of these non-violent peacemakers who were in Iraq for the
benefit of justice and peace in that land."
Pleas
In a message to the captors, Betteridge said: "Please release these
four people, who are there genuinely as non-violent
peacemakers.
Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams said: "We are so grateful
and heartened to see James, Harmeet, Norman and Tom alive on the
video tape dated January 21. This news is an answer to our prayers.
We continue to hope and pray for their release.
"We continue to believe that what has happened to our
teammates is the result of the actions of the US and UK governments
in their illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and
oppression of its people.
We
continue to call for justice and human rights for all who are
detained in Iraq."
Muslim scholars and activists from around the world, including
leaders of the militant Hamas and Hizbollah groups, have appealed
for the release of the aid workers.
Thousands of civilians have been kidnapped since the fall of Saddam
Hussein, including more than 200 foreigners seized by gangs seeking
ransom or insurgents trying to put pressure on governments to
withdraw troops from Iraq.
Many have been freed, but about 50 have been killed.