Deadline extended

As the clocked past midnight, Baghdad time, Al-Jazeera just aired new footage and a statement from the Swords of Righteousness Brigade extending the deadline for the execution of my friends and colleagues by 2 days. I have had a strange peace about the situation though I knew, rationally, that the original deadline might have been real. I pray that the new deadline is also flexible because 48 hours is not a long time.

CPT's guiding principle in conflict situations, a corollary of Jesus' Golden Rule, is never to dehumanise people. So perhaps it is not such a surprise that people demonised by society, such as Abu Qatada (referred to sometimes as "Bin Laden's Ambassador to Europe") should have spoken out in support of CPT. One might think it strange that an avowedly pacifist Christian organisation receives such heartfelt support from jihadist Muslims such as Hamas and the Al-Asqa Martyr's Brigade. Perhaps it is because they can see that CPTers like Tom Fox are among the few in the West who, while disagreeing with their actions, still treat them as precious human beings. My Iraqi friends tell me that people in Baghdad are beginning to refer to the CPT-four as the "mujahadeen" - of course that is a term that they would all reject because of its conitations of violence - but it is nonetheless a deep affirmation that Iraqis recognise them as being radically aligned with their struggle for freedom and justice.

Two articles out of the thousands published over the last week jump out. One is one of Jim Loney's final releases, describing one of our dear mutual Iraqi friends, a friend who has suffered unimaginably as a war-resistor and yet retains a soft heart. The other focuses on Tom Fox, who's steady radical faith has been a firm support to me much of this year in Baghdad and I'm sure will be sustaining the whole group through this trial. Inshallah when I will see Tom free in a few days I'm sure he we give me his shy half smile and ask in those gentle measured tones what all the fuss has been about during his little hiatus, given than dozens of Iraqis go through a similar experience each day.

CPT has issued a new press release:
Love Your Enemies. Free the Captives. End the War

We remain concerned about the well-being of our team-mates Harmeet, James, Norman, and Tom, and we ask for their release. We also remain concerned about the well-being of all Iraqis who are suffering under occupation.

Those who are with our team-mates have demanded the release from captivity of the Iraqi detainees held in United States’ and Iraqi prisons.

Christian Peacemaker Teams believes that no single person, no single nation can meet the demands of Justice.

No single person, no single nation can meet the demands of Peace.

But we believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to do their part to bring each combatant and each captive home to their families and to end the war and occupation.
December 10th is International Human Rights Day.

Christian Peacemaker Teams calls for all people of conscience around the world to initiate non-violent public actions for peace and for prayer on December 10
in support of international human rights and in support of ending war and occupation.

Massive support for the CPT Four

It has been an incredibly distressing week in many ways, but one thing which has kept many of us going has been the huge outpouring of support for our friends in Iraq. Not only have dozens of volunteers associated with CPT worked around the clock, but hundreds of others have organised vigils, written articles, attended prayer meetings and expressed their respect and concern for Tom, Jim, Harmeet and Norman. Independent initiatives have been launched including a visit to Iraq by a representative of the Muslim Assoication of Britain and the broader anti-war movement. Muslims held in detention in Canada for four years under anti-terrorism legislation have spoken out recipricoly for James Loney who has been involved in the campaign for their release. An new friend in Beirut is staying up late into the night translating press releases and statements.

There has been a groundswell of support from Palestine, where many appreciate the work of CPT over the last decade. There have been rallies in Tuwani, Khalil and Ramallah and statements from Sheikh Mehdi al-Karki and many of the political parties. Tomorrow my fiance (working with CPT in Palestine) will share a platform with the Mufti of Jerusalem who is holding a press conference calling for our friends release. Most importantly, the team in Iraq have recieved huge support from many Iraqi friends and neighbours, some who have even gone on TV, always a dangerous thing to do, to make personal appeals. Moreover there has been strong support from significant individuals and groups including Sheikh Abdullatif Humayem, the Association of Muslim Scholars and the Iraqi Islamic Party.

For more info see CPT and Indymedia Beirut

Second video

A second video was released by Jazeera last night showing my friends from CPT looking in worse condition and with a threat to kill them on Thursday unless all detainees are released. This is dreadfully ironic given that the primary work of CPT in Iraq has been helping detainees, both of the Occupation and of the Iraqi government.

In April I joined the Iraqi Islamic Party in a rally of hundreds of family members of detainees and many in the crowd recognised us for working on their cases. The first problem for Iraqis is that when relatives are detaineed in a raid or whatever, it can take months to find out where they are being held. The next stage is arranging family visits. In March I went all the way down to camp Bucca in Umm Qasr in March accopanying an Iraqi who had been twice turned away when trying to visit his brothers there, he got in on that occassion. The hardest step is encouraging the authorities to conduct a fair and quick judicial process or release them. Some of my close friends have been detained for really no reason for a year and then never even question or told the alleged charges against them. A number of people whose cases we've lobbied on (letter writing to authorities etc.) have been released and the families have credited us with the release (and invited us to joyful reunion parties) though to be honest its often hard for us to tell how big a role our intervention played in the release. Many others have not been release, but we continue to try and stand by their families. Also to document and report on the overall detainee situation to try and change policy.

I'm still in the cloths I was wearing last Sunday, which I've been sleeping in (for max 3hrs a night) as well. I'm in Jordan now but hopefully on my way to Baghdad soon. See www.cpt.org for arabic statements, petition, CPT's detainee reports etc. also see Tom Fox's blog.