Hostage a peacemaker who got too close to action

Norman Kember

Like hundreds of thousands of others, Norman Kember took to the streets of London nearly two years ago to march against the war in Iraq.

The 74-year-old retired professor and life-long pacifist even made it to the door of No 10 before the 2003 invasion to present a petition warning of disastrous consequences for Iraq and its people.

But in the aftermath of a war he could not stop, the dedicated churchgoer and pillar of his community in northwest London was troubled by a desire to become more closely involved with the conflict.

Six months ago, he wrote: "Personally it has always worried me that I am a 'cheap' peacemaker. Being in Britain talking, writing, demonstrating about peace is in no way taking risks like young servicemen in Iraq.

"I look for excuses why I should not become involved."

Last weekend, Kember, a self-effacing man who declined social engagements to concentrate on his peace campaigning, paid a grim price for running out of excuses not to witness the suffering of Iraqis for himself.

Two weeks ago, the professor, distinguished by his shock of white hair and his tall frame, left the modest detached house he shares with his wife in a tree-lined avenue in Pinner for the battle-scarred streets of Baghdad. In circumstances that remain unclear, he was kidnapped along with two Canadians and an American in a suburb of the city.

Kember, a father-of-two and grandfather, is a leading member of his local Baptist church. He was a radiation physicist at Barts Medical College and the University of London.

His group, who were investigating human rights abuses, had reportedly been travelling with "minimal security" when they were seized in the west of the city after dark on Saturday local time. The men were in the final days of a two-week fact-finding trip with a Canada-based humanitarian organisation, Christian Peacemaker Teams.

The group were working with Iraqis and were not involved in missionary work.

Kember, a man described as "absorbed in his faith", had attended faith conferences in South America and Europe, but this was the first time he had been to Iraq or any war zone.

The absence of any news of the four men's well-being or demands from their captors gave rise to fears that the motive for their abduction may be political rather than financial.

The Foreign Office said a multinational "hostage crisis" team had been set up in Baghdad to try to secure the release of the men. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the Iraqi authorities had pledged "every assistance" to free the captives.

In a separate incident, two Britons were killed and three injured yesterday when gunmen ambushed a minibus carrying Shiite pilgrims to religious sites south of Baghdad.

The dead men were named as Saifuddin Makai, 39, from Streatham, south London, and Husain Mohammedali, 50, from Harrow, northwest London.

Yesterday, Kember's neighbours in Pinner expressed surprise that he was in Baghdad.

"I was surprised to see him in Iraq at all, let alone in trouble," one man said.

"I knew him as a quiet adventurer, someone who travelled a lot round the world. But guns in Baghdad is something else."

But friends of Kember and his wife, Pat, a retired teacher, who was being comforted by family members, underlined the retired researcher's devotion to the causes he cherished.

The Rev Alan Betteridge, president of the UK Baptist Peace Fellowship, who has known Kember for more than 40 years, said: "Norman is a very committed worker for non-violence and peacemaking. He is a very gentle man, quiet, with a good sense of humour."

Kember was part of a delegation of about eight people who had gone to Iraq to meet local human rights campaigners and assist with the setting up of a Muslim peacemakers' organisation.

The organisation had sent four previous civilian delegations to Iraq.

- INDEPENDENT