PM deplores Iraq kidnapping of NZ resident

A video grab released on November 29 shows Harmeet Singh Sooden (right) being held captive by kidnappers in Iraq. Picture / Reuters

Prime Minister Helen Clark today expressed her sympathy for the family of a New Zealand resident kidnapped in Iraq.

She described the kidnapping as a terrible act against humanitarian aid workers.

Miss Clark said New Zealand officials were in contact with the family of Harmeet Singh Sooden and had offered them practical assistance in their ordeal.

Earlier the brother-in-law of Mr Sooden said he was stunned by an announcement kidnappers planned to kill him, unless their demands were met by Thursday.

Arab television station Al-Jazeera reported today kidnappers have threatened to execute Mr Sooden, a Canadian citizen, and three other peace activists, 74-year-old Briton Norman Kember, a retired medical physicist, American Tom Fox, 54, and another Canadian, James Loney, 41, unless all prisoners in United States and Iraqi detention centres are released.

"It's a terrible situation, and the demands have now been made, and while we've been asking for movement for days, this isn't of course the direction we wanted it go in," Mark Brewer told National Radio.

"We are all just stunned and devastated."

The kidnappers gave the two governments until Thursday December 8 to meet their demands, according to Al-Jazeera quoting a statement delivered with a videotape, which was broadcast by the station.

Miss Clark said that Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff were assisting Mr Sooden's father to join the family in Auckland as soon as possible.

"I understand this is a very difficult and stressful time for the family and I express sympathy, on behlf of New Zealanders, to all those involved," Miss Clark said.

New Zealand officials had also been in contact with the Canadian authorities.

"The Canadian government is working towards the safe release of the hostages. We have offered Canada any assistance towards this goal," Miss Clark said.

"It is important that we maintain one channel of communication , and we are confident that Canada is making all efforts to resolve this and have the hostages returned to their families.

"This is a terrible act against humanitarian aid workers, who had gone to help the people of Iraq," Miss Clark said.

Mr Sooden, 32, who has been resident in New Zealand for three years, travelled to Iraq after the university semester finished in order to work with a Canada-based aid agency, Christian Peacemaker Teams.

He had been doing a transitional certificate in English literature at Auckland University this year with the intention of beginning his masters degree in 2006.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said authorities were investigating the latest development and were "in constant touch" with the family of British hostage Norman Kember.

"We are also in touch with the Iraqi authorities, and of course we are hopeful that Mr Kember and his colleagues will be released unharmed and reunited with their families."

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr Kember's family said he had gone to Iraq "to listen, not convert; to learn from the Iraqi people, not to impose values; to promote peace and understanding".

Today's tape showed what the television station said were the two Canadian hostages, eating from plates of what appeared to be Arabic sweets.

In a second clip, the Briton and American hostages were shown to talking to the camera but no audio was transmitted.

The two were calling on the US and British governments to withdraw from Iraq, Al-Jazeera said, quoting the kidnappers' statement.

Stuart Young, a senior lecturer in English literature, at Auckland University described his student Mr Sooden as a very modest and courteous young man who was hoping to become a teacher after completing a postgraduate degree at Auckland.

Born in Zambia to Indian parents, Mr Sooden's first degree was in electrical engineering from Montreal. He obtained Canadian citizenship before arriving in New Zealand in April 2003.
Despite a full academic life, Mr Sooden played and coached squash at the university's recreation centre, where he had a close circle of friends.

Christian Peacemaker Teams -- supported by several Protestant denominations that believe Christianity forbids all war-making and violence -- has sent activists into war zones, including Bosnia and Haiti, since the late 1980s. It has about 160 members around the world and about a dozen in Iraq.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin today called the threat to kill the hostages an act terrorism against men of faith who had gone to aid Iraqis.

"This is a callous act of terror against innocent people," Mr Martin told reporters.

"Let us remember these people are in the country on a humanitarian mission. They came to help the Iraqi people. They are men of faith. They came to help Iraqis rebuild their society. They came to help build peace."

Mr Martin said the full resources of the Canadian government were being made available and Ottawa was working in co-operation with the Iraqi, US and British governments and with officials on the ground in Iraq.

"We seek the safe release of our citizens and the other hostages," he said.

- NZPA