Kidnapped Auckland man 'just wanted to make people safer'

Harmeet Singh Sooden, a Canadian citizen living and studying in New Zealand, had only just started his peacemaking role when he was kidnapped in Iraq, his sister has revealed.

Preety Brewer told the Canadian Press news agency she wasn't sure why Mr Sooden, 32, went to Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Teams, as he wasn't Christian.

But she said her brother believed in the way the group operated.

Mr Sooden was kidnapped on November 26 in Baghdad along with three other members of the international Christian group that promotes non-violent alternatives to conflict.

"He was always interested in making people safer," Ms Brewer said.

"But that was one of the first times he's done something so hands-on."

A group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping Sooden, Canadian James Loney, 41, American Tom Fox, 54, and Briton Norman Kember, 74.

The group demanded the release of all Iraqi detainees and threatened to kill the hostages in early December, a deadline that passed without any action.

A videotape released at the end of January reiterated the demand and the threats but gave no deadline.

Ms Brewer said the latest video brought mixed feelings: she was happy to see her brother alive but disappointed he was still in captivity.

She said her brother did not look much changed in the recent video. He had a lot of facial hair but was wearing his own clothes rather than the uniform-like garment he wore in the earlier video.

"It's frustrating but we don't want to read too much" into the video, she said.

Ms Brewer said that when her brother came home -- the family always said when, not if -- she did not expect his enthusiasm for helping the less fortunate to wane. But she hoped he would stay closer to home.

"A lot of people here in Auckland need help, or a lot of people in Canada, so maybe he'll decide to do that."

Both Mr Sooden and Ms Brewer, four years younger, were born in Zambia.

They went to boarding school in England, then moved to Canada as they have relatives in the country.

Mr Sooden spent nine years in Canada, Ms Brewer said, finishing his degree in computer engineering and then working in Montreal and Ottawa.

Ms Brewer met her husband, Mark, while visiting New Zealand and stayed.

Mr Sooden moved to New Zealand to live near her just as she found out she was pregnant.

She said that although Mr Sooden had been in New Zealand for almost three years, Canadian authorities had taken the lead in efforts to have him freed.

"Canada is bigger and more experienced with this sort of thing, so I guess we're lucky (New Zealand officials) had that to fall back on," Ms Brewer said.

She thought her brother developed his urge to help others while travelling through Africa and India.

"He's seen hardship and things like that, so I guess that made him want to help in some way."

Ms Brewer said the abduction and waiting was toughest on their parents, who were "kind of in limbo".

- NZPA