Hostage's family can only wait, pray as deadline nears today

The deadline on the threat to kill Auckland University student Harmeet Singh Sooden expires today.

Mr Sooden's brother-in-law, Mark Brewer, told TV3 that worldwide public support and the broadcast of a video appealing for the release of Mr Sooden and three fellow captives gave the family hope. The tape - which shows Mr Sooden's mother, Manjeet Kaur Sooden - was sent to Arab television station al-Jazeera, which played it yesterday on several news bulletins.

Mr Brewer said the family were tense as the deadline loomed and they could do little but sit and wait.

"It's a funny thing ... In some respects we can't wait for [the deadline] to come; in other respects we hope it never comes."

He said Mr Sooden's father flew to New Zealand from Zambia yesterday.

A group of armed men from the Brigade of the Swords of Righteousness took Mr Sooden, 32, and three fellow members of peace group Christian Peacemaker Teams in Baghdad at the end of last month.

Last week the kidnappers threatened to kill the hostages unless all prisoners in US and Iraqi detention centres were released by December 8. The tape did not specify what time of day the deadline would expire. December 8 in Iraq starts at 10am NZT today.

Last night about 30 of Mr Sooden's friends gathered at Tahake Reserve in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden to pray for the fate of the hostages.

Auckland University Students for Justice in Palestine, of whom Mr Sooden was a member, organised the meeting, the second this week.

Mr Brewer said the family were also buoyed by the "moving public outcry" around the world for the release of the hostages, among them leaders of the militant Hamas and Hizbollah groups, peace groups and Sunni groups in Iraq.

A petition for their release that included American philosopher Noam Chomsky and Indian author Arundhati Roy was last night up to 25,000 signatures.

The Middle East Council of Churches and the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue yesterday added their voices to the chorus.

Meanwhile, a US security adviser yesterday became the latest victim in a recent spate of kidnappings.

The Islamic Army in Iraq, a Sunni Arab extremist group, threatened to kill the US man it identified as Ronald Schulz unless all prisoners in Iraq were freed and compensation was paid to Al-Anbar province, which has been the scene of several US offensives against insurgents.