Hostage's family expect no news until after Iraq election

The family of Auckland student Harmeet Singh Sooden, who is being held hostage in Iraq, is not expecting any news from his captors until after tomorrow's Iraqi elections.

At the same time, a British Muslim envoy who went to Iraq to try to help free Mr Sooden and three other kidnapped Christian peace activists said he was still hopeful they would be released.

Nothing has been heard from the men's abductors since a Saturday deadline passed for their demands to be met. The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade had threatened to kill the men if the US and Britain did not release all detainees in Iraq.

Mr Sooden, 32, a Canadian, along with Briton Norman Kember, 74, Canadian James Loney, 41, and American Tom Fox, 54, were abducted in Baghdad on November 26. They had travelled to Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams, a Canadian-based international peace group.

Anas Altikriti, who travelled to Iraq to meet Sunni Muslim leaders and appeal for the hostages' release, said the lack of communication since the deadline had made him "slightly more hopeful".

"The likelihood is that, had there been action taken against the hostages, we would have heard about it by now," he told Britain's Press Association news agency from Jordan.

Mr Altikriti said the hostage-takers could be "looking for a way out without losing face".

"The other explanation is that they may be hoping for the next 24 to 48 hours to use the Iraqi elections in one way or another," he said.

"Whether they would use that to release the hostages -- or otherwise, God forbid -- we can't say."

Mr Sooden's brother-in-law Mark Brewer said today the family had not been advised of any developments.

"I'm not expecting any news today. The general feeling from may quarters is that little will happen while the Iraqi elections are on.

"So we're not expecting much movement until (December) 16th or 17th," Mr Brewer said this morning.

"As we've said the whole way through, we've remained optimistic and there's been nothing we've interpreted as negative to sway our opinion."

The waiting was obviously difficult with hours that seemed like days and days like weeks.

"We just get by as best we can," he said.

"Pretty much a lot of pacing, a lot of jumping at the phones and drinking lots of tea."

Mr Sooden's mother, Manjeet Kaur Sooden, who had been in New Zealand for a holiday before the kidnappings, was recently joined by her husband, Dalip Singh Sooden, who works at a copper mine in Zambia.

"It's great to have us altogether, that's for sure," Mr Brewer said.

- NZPA