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Harmeet Singh Sooden
Just a day after an Auckland family marked 100 days in captivity for New Zealand hostage Harmeet Singh Sooden and three fellow peace workers in Iraq, hopes have been raised by a new video showing three of the men in apparent good health.
Mr Sooden, a Canadian citizen who lived and studied in Auckland, was captured in Baghdad along with Canadian James Loney, Norman Kember of Britain and American Tom Fox in November last year.
A group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility.
A video played on Al Jazeera television on Tuesday was dated February 28 and showed Mr Sooden, Mr Loney and Mr Kember sitting in a room. They appeared in good health and were speaking to the camera, but their voices could not be heard.
It was the first news of the hostages since video footage of them in late January in which the hostage takers said US-led forces had one last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or the men would be killed.
Mr Sooden's sister Preety Brewer of Auckland, said she did not want to comment until she had seen the video.
Yesterday, before news of the video broke, her husband Mark Brewer said the family continued to be optimistic Mr Sooden would be released.
The kidnapped men were all working for the peace organisation Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), when they were captured.
CPT colleague Peggy Gish said from Iraq today the group was thankful to see three of the men alive and well but was concerned at the absence of Mr Fox.
Ms Gish said the men appeared to be holding up.
"In this video we were able to look more closely at their faces and we had the sense that they were okay, that's how I felt when I saw them," she told National Radio.
"Sure they're very tired, this must be quite an ordeal, but I had the sense that they're holding up, that's there's still a lot of strength in each of the three that we saw."
Ms Gish said CPT had not had any direct contact with the kidnappers other than through videos released and no ransom had been asked for. The group was continuing to try to locate the men and work for their release.
The latest video, the fifth since the kidnap, was an improvement on earlier ones in that it did not contain any specific deadlines, she said.
"We hope that it won't be too long before we see them standing at our door. We're praying for that everyday, but we are hopeful."
Monday marked 100 days since the men were kidnapped, and vigils were held in Britain and Canada.
Mr Brewer said yesterday efforts to free his brother-in-law had continued unabated since the first day of his capture.
"Hope remains high, but the overriding feeling is frustration. We just want to bring this thing to an end, to get Harmeet home."
Mrs Brewer said it was difficult to believe 100 days had passed since her brother was kidnapped.
"It's amazing it's been so long already, I just can't believe it," she said.
"We're just waiting and hoping."
