Mennonite Weekly Review

LONDON — Three Christian Peacemaker Teams activists who were held hostage in Iraq for 118 days said Dec. 8 they could not decide whether to testify against four men accused of kidnapping them and killing American activist Tom Fox.

Former hostages James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, both Canadians, and British citizen Norman Kember said they forgive their captors and prefer the path of reconciliation in Iraq. They spoke during a news conference at St. Ethelburga’s Church, once the target of an Irish Republican Army bombing and now a peace center.

Loney, Sooden, Kember and Fox were kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26, 2005, by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. Fox was found shot to death on March 10. The other three were freed by British commandos on March 23.

“We understand a number of men alleged to be our captors have been apprehended, charged with kidnapping and are facing trial in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq,” the former hostages said in a statement released Dec. 8. “We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us. We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us.”

The former hostages said there was too much uncertainty about the fairness of their alleged captors’ trial for them to participate in the proceedings. They also called for leniency for the accused, who could face the death penalty under Iraqi law.

“What our captors did was wrong,” the statement said. “They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution. Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency. We categorically lay aside any rights we may have over them.”

The former hostages also decried the continuing violence in Iraq.

“In our view, the catastrophic levels of violence and the lack of effective protection of human rights in Iraq is inextricably linked to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation,” the statement said. “As for many others, the actions of our kidnappers were part of a cycle of violence they themselves experienced. While this is no way justifies what the men charged with our kidnapping are alleged to have done, we feel this must be considered in any potential judgment.”

The statement also cited the peace teachings of Christianity, Islam and the Sikh religion. Sooden is of Sikh ancestry.

“Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first of the Sikh Gurus, said, ‘Forgiveness is my mother’ and, ‘Where there is forgiveness, there is God,’ ” according to the statement. “Jesus said, ‘For if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’ And of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) it is told that once, while preaching in the city of Ta’if, he was abused, stoned and driven out of the city. An angel appeared to him and offered to crush the city between the two surrounding mountains if he ordered him to do so, whereupon the prophet … said, ‘No. Maybe from them or their offspring will come good deeds.’

“Through the power of forgiveness, it is our hope that good deeds will come from the lives of our captors and that we will all learn to reject the use of violence. We believe those who use violence against others are themselves harmed by the use of violence.”

The former hostages also spoke out against the death penalty, which they said “erases all possibility that those who have harmed others, even seriously, can yet turn to good.”

The news conference was held a year to the day after the first deadline set by the kidnappers of the four for the release of all Iraqi prisoners in coalition-run jails in Iraq. The kidnappers had threatened to kill the hostages if all Iraqi detainees were not freed.