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Muslim Leaders Urge Release of Christian Hostages in Iraq
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"Such
peace activist should have been welcomed into Iraq
and treated as honourable guests," said the Muslim leaders,
including Qaradawi (C).
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CAIRO, December 6, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Twenty five prominent Muslim
leaders and dignitaries from around the world have appealed for the
immediate release of four Christian peace activists taken hostage in Iraq
and threatened with murder.
"We,
the undersigned, call for the immediate release of the four Western
peace activists who were kidnapped in Iraq
last week," said the Muslim leaders in a statement posted by the
Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) on its Web site.
"We
have been saddened by the kidnapping of these peace activists whose
only mission in
Iraq
has been to express solidarity with the Iraqi people and see for
themselves the devastating effects of the
US
invasion of Iraq."
American
Tom Fox, 54; Briton Norman Kember, 74; and two Canadians, James Loney,
41 and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were kidnapped in
Baghdad
on November 26.
In
a video that appeared on Al-Jazeera television, kidnappers threatened
to kill the four unless all detainees in Iraqi and US-run prisons were
released by December 8.
The
four are associated with the
US
and Canada-based Christian Peacemaker Teams opposed to the US-led
occupation of Iraq.
In
a video that appeared on Al-Jazeera television, kidnappers threatened
to kill the four unless all detainees in Iraqi and US-run prisons were
released by December 8.
The
Muslim dignitaries said the abducted activists "were intending to
return home to inform the public opinion in their own countries about
the destruction and havoc brought about by the invasion of
Iraq
by the United States of America
and its allies."
The
signatories included Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Chairman of the
International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), Sheikh Harith
Al-Dari, Head of Iraq's Association of Muslim Scholars, Khaled
Mashaal, head of the political bureau of Hamas and two officials of
the Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah.
"Honourable
Guests"
The
Muslim leaders said the group to which the abducted activists belonged
has been known for its sympathy with the Palestinian and Iraqi peoples
and for its support for their struggle to end the Israeli and US
occupation.
"Such
peace activist should have been welcomed into Iraq
and treated as honourable guests instead of being kidnapped and used
as a bargaining chip," they stressed.
"Neither
the hostages nor the organization they represent possess the means of
forcing the occupation authorities to free the Iraqis held in its
detention centres across Iraq."
The
Christian Peacemaker Teams group has worked for over three decades, in
various parts of the world, as a non-missionary, independent
humanitarian aid and violence reduction organization.
It
has worked in
Iraq
since October 2002 opposing the US/UN economic sanctions policy, the
escalation of the war against the Iraqi people in March 2003, and the
continued occupation of Iraq
by all Western military forces.
The
group has blamed for the
United States
and Britain
for the kidnappings due to their "illegal acts" against the
Iraqi people.
Harmful
The
Muslim leaders have denounced acts of aggression against innocent
civilians irrespective of their religion or nationality.
"All
illegitimate acts of aggression against innocent civilians, including
kidnappings, indiscriminate killing or other forms of harm inflicted
upon non-combatants, only harm the just cause of the Iraqi people and
their legitimate struggle for freedom and independence."
They
pressed for the immediate release of the four hostages "and of
all other Western civilians kidnapped in Iraq".
The
Muslim leaders urged "whoever has the ability to play a role in
the endeavour to secure their release and their safe return to their
countries to spare no effort in this regard."
More
than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since
the
US
invasion-turned-occupation of Iraq. Fifty-two foreign hostages are known to have been killed by their
captors.
Abductions
are blamed by US authorities on the ghostly Jordanian-born Abu Musab
Al-Zarqawi.
Most
Iraqi resistance groups always distance themselves from the slaughter
of hostages.
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