Ex-detainee pleads for hostages

2005-12-09 11:36

London - A former detainee at the American Guantanamo Bay military base has appealed for the release of four Western peace campaigners who are being held hostage and are facing execution, in Iraq.

Moazzam Begg, a British citizen, was detained at the Guantanamo base in Cuba for nearly three years.

He said the hostages - Brit Norman Kember, 74, Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and American Tom Fox, 54 - reminded him of his time in detention.

His plea followed a renewed British appeal for the kidnappers to come forward and make contact.

'They are not Muslims'

Begg told BBC television: "When we were first granted release by Allah's mercy, we came home to find that there were people who opposed their government in their brutal war waged against Afghanistan and Iraq and stood on the side of justice. And they were not Muslims.

"It is our sincerest belief that Norman Kember, the 74-year-old Briton, and those with him are among those people, the many people, who opposed this war from the beginning and were only in Iraq to promote human rights for the oppressed.

"We also hope that our words will encourage you to show mercy to these men and set them free."

The kidnappers have their deadline by 48 hours - to Saturday.

The four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams organisation were abducted in Baghdad on November 26 by the Brigades of the Swords of Right.

The group has threatened to kill them unless all detainees in prisons in the United States and Iraq are freed.

- AFP