British Iraq hostage Kember freed

One British and two Canadian peace activists held hostage in Iraq for almost four months have been freed in an operation by multinational forces. Norman Kember, 74, of north-west London, James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were three of four men seized in Baghdad in November.

Mr Kember is said to be in a “reasonable condition” while the two Canadians were taken to hospital.

The body of murdered US citizen Tom Fox was found in Baghdad two weeks ago.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he had spoken to Mr Kember’s wife Pat and that she was “absolutely delighted, elated with this news”.

Mr Kember was now in the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Mr Straw said.

“I’m delighted that now we have a happy ending to this terrible ordeal for Norman Kember, for his family, for the Canadian hostages and for their families as well,” he said.

The Reverend Alan Betteridge, a friend of Mr Kember’s for more than 40 years, told BBC Five Live: “It’s tremendously good and so unexpected after the killing of Tom Fox a couple of weeks ago, when we really did fear that each one would be killed eventually.”

Rescue operation

Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was delighted by the news, and particularly pleased for the freed men and their families.

He also congratulated everyone involved in the operation in Baghdad. The Ministry of Defence said UK troops had played a “prominent role”.

The foreign secretary said the rescue followed “weeks and weeks of very careful work by military and coalition personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well”.

The BBC’s Andrew North said the peace group the men were working for in Iraq, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), had issued a statement saying no-one was hurt in the rescue - including those holding the hostages.

Threats

The four men were abducted on 26 November by a previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Truth Brigade.

The group had issued threats to kill the men if the US and Iraqi authorities did not meet their demand of releasing all Iraqi prisoners.

Fifty-four-year-old Mr Fox was found shot dead on 9 March in the Mansour district of the Iraqi capital.

Following the rescue, Mr Straw said: “There’s one last very sad point, which is that there were four hostages captured originally, including one, an American, Mr Fox, and it’s a matter of great sorrow to everybody that he was killed a little while ago.”

Muslim anti-war campaigners in the UK sent Iraqi-born Anas Altikriti to Iraq to plead for the release of Mr Kember and the other hostages.

Ihtisham Hibatullah, a spokesman for Mr Altikriti at the Muslim Association of Britain, said on Thursday they were “very relieved” that Mr Kember and his colleagues were alive, and that it was fantastic news for their families.

BBC