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Pleas Intensify as Deadline Approaches for Hostages

Pleas for the lives of the four kidnapped Christian volunteers in Iraq intensified around the world as the Dec. 8 deadline, set by the kidnappers, drew near Wednesday.

Pleas for the lives of the four kidnapped Christian volunteers in Iraq intensified around the world as the Dec. 8 deadline, set by the kidnappers, drew near Wednesday.

Politicians and religious leaders from all faith traditions began sending out official statements and letters calling for the immediate release of the four Christian Peacemaker Team members taken hostage in Baghdad, Iraq, last week.

“We believe that all violence is wrong, and that the action of kidnapping cannot be justified under any circumstance,” read a letter by the stated clerk and moderator of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. “We ask that the volunteers be released immediately, so that we might all continue to work for peace in a troubled land.”

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The Presbyterians’ Dec.7 letter was similar to statements sent out by dozens of Christian groups in the U.S., including the Brethren Church and the National Council of Churches U.S.A. The Christian Peacemaker Team also released a statement on Dec. 6, asking the kidnappers – the Swords of Justice Brigades – to “immediately release” the hostages unharmed. Most of these statements also condemned the U.S. and British occupation of Iraq, and called for an immediate end to the Iraq war.

The kidnappers have threatened to kill the four Christians – one American, one British, and two Canadians – by Thursday unless Iraq frees all its prisoners and British and U.S. soldiers leave the country. The kidnappers also claimed that the Christians were spies posing as volunteer workers.

According to Anita David, a member of the Christian Peacemaking Team in Baghdad, the allegations of the kidnappers were unwarranted.

“When we learned of the demands, we were fairly astonished,” David said to the Presbyterian News Service. “Our work is working with detainees and advocating (for) detainees … with human-rights organizations.”

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