The three-year-old grandson of Norman Kember keeps asking when he will return from Iraq, the wife of the kidnapped peace activist has told al-Jazeera. In a new appeal on the Arab TV channel, Pat Kember said she was "very worried" about the 74-year-old Briton's health. Mr Kember, from Pinner, north London, was seized in Baghdad on 26 November, with two Canadians and an American. Well over a month now. The kidnappers have no idea how to unload the hostages and save face. | Mr Kember, James Loney, 41, Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and American Tom Fox, 54, had travelled to Iraq as a gesture of solidarity with Christian Peacemaker team, a Canadian-based international peace organisation. Mr Kember was last seen in a video aired on al-Jazeera on 8 December, blindfolded and with his hands tied, but there has been no news from his captors since then. The four men were seized by a group calling itself the Swords of Truth. It had demanded the release of all Iraqi prisoners detained by British and American forces by 10 December - a call which has not been met.
Mrs Kember's appearance on al-Jazeera was the latest appeal from the hostages' families. She previously appeared on the channel on 4 December, saying that her husband and his friends were allies of Iraq and had gone there to make it "a safer place". A series of radio and newspaper adverts were issued in Iraq over the Christmas period and the Muslim Association of Britain has also been working to secure their release. The Foreign Office said it had no new information about Mr Kember. |