Iraqi captors threaten to kill hostages
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Four Western hostages, including the Briton Norman Kember, have been threatened with death by their captors unless all Iraqi prisoners in US and Iraqi detention centres are released by next Thursday, according to a videotape shown on Arabic television.
In a statement delivered with the tape to the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera, the kidnappers gave the US and British governments until 8 December to meet their demands. The al-Jazeera broadcaster said: "They set as conditions that all detainees in the prisons of the collaborator Iraqi government are released and that all detainees are released from the prisons of the occupation [forces]."
Mr Kember, 74, of Pinner, north-west London, appeared on tape alongside the American Tom Fox, 54, while the two Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were shown in a separate clip. The men were identified by the US organisation they belong to, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). They were seized in Baghdad last week.
The tape showed the four hostages looking very frightened. Mr Kember and Mr Fox were shown talking to the camera but no audio was transmitted. The kidnappers' accompanying statement explained that the two were calling on their respective governments to withdraw from Iraq, al-Jazeera said.
In a second clip, the two Canadian hostages were shown eating from plates of what appeared to be Arabic sweets. In video footage released earlier this week, the kidnappers accused their hostages of spying for foreign forces in Iraq. The video also showed Mr Kember, a grandfather and a former professor at the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, sitting on the floor next to his fellow hostages with a flag bearing crossed black swords and the group's name, The Swords of Righteousness, hanging on the wall behind him.
The Swords of Righteousness is a hitherto unknown group but US and Iraqi officials said that they appeared to be Sunnis.
More than 100 foreigners have been seized by insurgents in Iraq in the past two years.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments