Christian Peacemaker Hostage Crisis - Timeline of The Crisis

Timeline of The Crisis

• November 26: The hostages are abducted.

• November 29: Al Jazeera broadcasts a video from "Swords of Righteousness Brigade" showing hostages and issuing demands. See Kidnappers' demands (above) for more.

On the same day, radio personality Rush Limbaugh stirred controversy by stating, in reference to the kidnapping, that "part of me likes this". Earlier in the broadcast, explaining this point, he said "Well, here's why I like it. I like any time a bunch of leftist feel-good hand-wringers are shown reality."

• December 3: The Iraq Islamic Party, the main Sunni political party in Iraq, called for the release of the hostages.

• December 5: An online petition calling for the release of the hostages was signed by more than 13000 people, including Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy.

• December 6: Another video was released, in which the hostages gave assurances that they were being well-treated. In the video, Sooden and Loney are shown unshackled and eating, while Fox and Kember appear handcuffed. Kember requests that Tony Blair withdraw all British troops from Iraq.

On the same day, Ehab Lotayef, a representative of the Canadian Islamic Congress, left Canada for Baghdad (he arrived in Iraq on December 9 and broadcast televised appeals to the kidnappers, stating that Christian Peacemakers had always been supportive of human rights for Arabs in Iraq and Palestine). As well, Tom Fox's daughter Katherine appeared on ABC's Nightline to plead for his release.

• December 7: An additional plea for the hostages' release was made by the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, from a British jail.

Later the same day, another video was released by the kidnappers, in which they extended the deadline for their demands to Saturday, December 10. This video featured only Fox and Kember, clad in orange jumpsuits reminiscient of those worn by detainees in photos from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Some commentators, such as BBC correspondent Caroline Hawley, speculated that Loney and Sooden may have been treated differently than Fox and Kember, as the former two are both Canadians, and Canada did not support the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This speculation was based on the apparent differences in the treatment of the hostages in the second video (in which only Fox and Kember are shackled) and the third (in which only Fox and Kember appear).

• December 9: Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg called for the hostages' release, stating that the orange boiler suits worn by the hostages reminded him of his own imprisonment. Terry Waite also pleaded for Kember's release, however he added that he disputed the Christian Peacemakers' tactic of going into a "highly polarised" situation in Iraq. The same day, a plea was made by Mohammed Mahdi Akef, president of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

• December 10: The second deadline passed on the afternoon of December 10, with no information from the Brigade about the status of the hostages. Fox's daughter issued a statement saying that she and her father believe the Iraqi people have legitimate grievances about the U.S. occupation, but "these grievances, however, will not be resolved by taking my father's life." As well, prominent American antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan called for the hostages' release in a rally in London.

• December 12: Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor sent his regards and a message of support to a vigil being held in Trafalgar Square, saying that he too prayed for their release, and closed stating "I plead with their captors to have mercy, as God is merciful, and to release them."

• December 16: The Toronto Star reported that a confidential source has stated that an unnamed Iraqi hostage negotiator who had allegedly made contact with the kidnappers had himself been abducted. Later that day, Ekklesia reported these claims were unfounded, and that there was no such negotiator.

• December 25: The families of the hostages placed advertisements in many Iraqi newspapers, repeating previous pleas by prominent Muslims for their release.

• January 4: Christian Peacemaker Teams announced that some of its members would hold a public Epiphany fast in Lafayette Park outside the White House from January 6 to January 9, or until they were granted a meeting with President Bush.

• January 7: Al Jazeera ran an interview with a friend of Tom Fox, using a headline emphasising the situation as ongoing.

• January 28: Al Jazeera broadcast a video dated January 21, showing the four hostages. The video appeared with a statement from the captors offering US authorities a "last chance" to "release all Iraqi prisoners in return of freeing the hostages otherwise their fate will be death."

• February 20: Newly appointed Canadian foreign-affairs minister Peter MacKay drew criticism after telling reporters he is confident the hostages will be released. He later apologized to the families of the hostages for his speculation, saying he had no new information.

• March 7: Al Jazeera broadcast a new video, dated to 28 February. It showed Kember, Loney, and Sooden talking into the camera, but it had no sound and contains no demands by the kidnappers. All three were shown alert and apparently well; Tom Fox was not shown. Rebecca Johnson, spokeswoman for CPT, stated that public speculation on the reasons for Fox's absence was "unhelpful".

• March 10: The U.S. State Department announced that the body of Tom Fox was found in Iraq.

• March 23: The three remaining hostages are freed in a British-led operation by a multinational force consisting of American and British coalition forces as well as Iraqi forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and possibly Canadian military personnel. The identity and extent of the Canadian military contribution and the nature of its partipication, if any, are unknown. There were unconfirmed reports and speculation that elements of the Canadian special-operations unit Joint Task Force 2 were involved. It has been confirmed that the operation was led by SAS Troopers Reports indicate that no kidnappers were present at the house where the hostages were found and no shots were fired during the operation.

• March 27: Upon his return to New Zealand, Harmeet Sooden was warned by Prime Minister Helen Clark not to go back to Iraq saying; "The New Zealand Government constantly says to Kiwis 'Don't go there. You are walking into a war zone. It is a very, very dangerous place and New Zealand is not represented in Iraq in any shape or form and we are not in a position to help". There was also controversy about "chequebook journalism" on the part of state-owned TVNZ, which allegedly paid Sooden's family around $NZ30,000 for their exclusive story.

• December 8: The three ex-hostages announced their disinclination to testify against their former captors if there was a chance the kidnappers might face the death penalty.