"They're fine. They're well-fed. They're tired."

Both Canadians are "deeply grateful to all those who worked for them and prayed for their release," David said. "Their heads are swirling."

Despite the hostages' ordeal, the men were still committed to working for peace in Iraq, said Gish, who met with them Friday and helped Singh celebrate his [33] birthday.

"They still seem very dedicated to their work for the Iraqi people. I don't know if it will be here, or if it will be in another country, but they are still very concerned," she said. "They are concerned for justice for all different ethnic groups here."

"Gish said the captives were not always bound during their captivity and were allowed to exercise regularly. The kidnappers provided medication for Kember, who had an undisclosed health problem. She said the three appeared physically fit despite their long captivity." [...]"
Quelle boston.com

"Despite the kidnapping trauma that began Nov. 26, Ed Loney [Bruder] said there was no point in focusing on the horror of a situation that included the murder of Fox.
"If you start getting all wound up about how tragic it is and he should never have done that, then it's all wasted," Loney said."All this grief all these four months is all wasted time." Ed Loney said the past four months have been a "huge ordeal" for him and his family. Still, he said, the end result has made it all worthwhile.

"It's probably done more good than Jim could ever have imagined," Ed Loney said.
"It gave us an opportunity to be out there and talk about the human-rights abuses and what was going on and what continues to happen in Iraq to ordinary Iraqis."



Gene Stoltzfus, the founder of Christian Peacemakers, said Friday that now is not the time to cut and run. "This is a time of testing, but not necessarily a time of backing off," Stoltzfus said from the Fort Frances, Ont. area. "We invented CPT to be in places like this (and) unless there are enormously compelling reasons to suggest that you can't do your work - and that's the bottom line - then you continue the work." That work includes drawing attention to the plight of unjustly detained Iraqi prisoners and smaller gestures such as escorting children to school. Stoltzfus said the group might want to take a look at how it does its work in Iraq with an eye to making it as safe as possible.

"There's no particular merit in getting people killed," he said.
"I don't have a mystical theory of martyrdom."

The four hostages were abducted at gunpoint on a Baghdad street on Nov. 26.
They were rescued Thursday, two weeks after Fox was killed in what may have been a botched escape attempt, according to two new reports in Britain.
The kidnappers had left the house just before coalition soldiers arrived. "
Quelle: Canadian Press

zur Befreiung selbst:

"A deal had been struck with a man detained the previous night who was one of the leaders of the kidnappers. He was allowed a telephone call to warn his henchmen to leave the kidnap house. When the troops moved in and found the prisoners alive, they also let him go as promised."

Quelle telegraph

"Six Iraqis are in custody, accused of being in the gang, and are being interrogated by British intelligence to try to find clues which might help locate other hostages, including the American Jill Carroll and two Germans, Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich."
"The more senior members of the gang responsible for Mr Fox's murder were part of one of the Islamist insurgent groups, either Jaish al-Mujahideen or al-Jabha al-Islamiya. The group made a series of political demands, in particular that the US and Britain release all prisoners held in Iraq. They threatened to kill the hostages if their demands were not met.

But the guards holding Mr Kember and his colleagues were part of a cell motivated by money rather than politics. "It's a bit absurd that they consider themselves innocent, even though they were looking for money. They don't see themselves as criminals," the source said. "The guards were involved, which is why it was a soft operation. They played a significant role in allowing the authorities to find the hostages."

He added: "The death of Fox changed the whole thing. Someone higher up the chain took him away. Because the ante had gone up and it had become more serious, it's quite possible that the operation began to open up and they got nervous about the repercussion." He said the "higher-ups" who took Mr Fox did not initially intend to kill him. Examination of his body found dumped by a road two weeks ago did not show signs of torture, as first reported, the source insisted. Nor did he seem to have been killed execution-style. It was more likely that there was a scuffle or an attempt to run away which led to his death.

Mr Kember and his colleagues did not know until they were freed that Mr Fox was dead. Peggy Gish, of the Christian Peacemakers Team, said yesterday that the three hostages had not seen Mr Fox since February 12. "
Quelle guardian
beide Fotos (AP Photo/Christian Peacemaker), das schärfere via Toronto Star
In this handout photo released by Christian Peacemakers, Canadian Hostages Jim Loney, right, and Harmeet Sooden are seen after their release, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 24, 2006