Peacemakers Abducted in Iraq

Peacemakers Abducted in Iraq

Our friends in the Christian Peacemakers Team have been working in Iraq since October 2002, through the invasion, and occupation. They helped break the story to the world about the torture of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib; they've advocated on behalf of detainees; they've published eye witness accounts of the war from Baghdad to Fallujah.
Last week, four of their team members were abducted by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade who accuse them of being spies. The Arab and Muslim world has responded with support for CPT and pleas to the abductors to free them so they can get back to their peace work in Iraq, Palestine, Colombia, US-Mexico border, and native nations in Canada.
Please read more about how Jim, Tom, Harmeed, and Norm's work in Iraq and the work worldwide to get them released.

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On Tuesday, Nov 30th, a video was aired on Al-Jazeera showing the four peacemakers being held hostage. The world quickly responded to the kidnappers. In Palestine, demonstrations were held in Hebron, Ramallah, and Tawani calling for the release. "From the heart of Palestine to the heart of Iraq" said one sign "Release our friends!"

The National and Islamic Forces in Hebron issued a statement signed by such militant/political groups as Hamas and the DFLP saying that they "confirm that the CPTers have a very strong role in facing Israeli crimes and in protecting the life of the Palestinians. They have put themselves in many situations in front of Israeli tanks. They have confronted Israeli bulldozers and home demolitions and escorted our children to and from their schools to protectthem from settlers. Because of all their activities, members of CPT have been followed, arrested and beaten by Israeli soldiers and settlers on many occasions."

Religious leaders have also joined the calls. "We demand that these aid workers be released immediately," said Mufti Ikrema Sabri, Palestine's top Muslim clergyman.

"We tell them that these aid workers have stood beside Palestinian people and it's our duty now to stand beside them."

Mustafa Jayyousi a local Palestinian activist in Jayyous who knew Tom said, "When he worked in Jayyous, Tom was part of a group who went down to the gates everyday with local farmers to help them access their lands made inaccessible by the wall. He also participated in demonstrations with the people of Jayyous against the apartheid Wall in Jayyous."

Numerous Muslim groups in the Middle East - from high political and religious positions, as well as from radical groups - have made public their support of CPT, an international violence reduction organization based in Chicago and Toronto. Many said CPT workers stood with their people under threat of violence.

On Saturday, the Iraq Islamic Party, the primary Sunni party, demanded The Swords of Righteous Brigade release the four men, whom they called "activists in a movement opposing the war in Iraq," according to al Jazeera. They further explained that the kidnapping sends a message that "Iraqis cannot tell the difference between those who support them and those who oppose them." Their efforts for the release of the CPT members were also supported by Iraqi groups the Committee for Muslim Scholars, a Sunni organization, and the Association of Muslim Scholars, which has appealed for past foreign hostages as well.

Mufti Ikrema Sabri, the leading Palestinian Muslim cleric, also pleaded for the men. "These aid workers have stood beside (the) Palestinian people and it's our duty now to stand beside them," Sabri said, according to al Jazeera. CPT has worked in Hebron, in the West Bank, since 1995, collaborating with Palestinian and Israeli peace groups. Shwhat Samha, mayor of the West Bank village of Jayyus, said CPT activists had stood with Palestinians in front of Israeli government bulldozers about to raze Palestinian homes, al Jazeera reported. Members of Hezbollah and Hamas, Palestinian groups, have also publicly stated that they believe CPT works to support the oppressed in Palestine.

The Muslim Association of Britain sent one of its leaders to Iraq to negotiate for Norman Kember to be set free. The BBC reported Monday that the government of the United Kingdom is willing to communicate with the kidnappers. From Full Sutton jail in Britain, Abu Qatada, a cleric accused of terrorism, videotaped an appeal to the kidnappers to follow the Muslim principle of mercy and free the men, BBC reported Wednesday.

Appealing directly to the kidnappers, CPT condemned the actions of their governments in Iraq in a statement Tuesday. CPT said, "We believe there needs to be a force that counters all the resentment, the fear, the intimidation felt by the Iraqi people. We are trying to be that force: to speak for justice, to advocate for the human rights of Iraqis, to look at an Iraqi face and say: my brother, my sister."

Dec. 1 statements from the families of the kidnapped men wrote of Harmeet Sooden's passion "about taking an active role in giving humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people," James Loney's "tireless work with the oppressed," Norman Kember's belief "that dialogue and not confrontation will lead to reconciliation," and Tom Fox's "choice to travel to Iraq and listen to those who are not heard."

Please go to www.cpt.org to learn more about the work of CPT and the response of the world community in helping to free them.

Arundhati Roy, Kathy Kelly, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Daniel Berrigan, and 10,000 others have signed a petition urging their release. You can sign it at: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/freethecpt