Christian Peace Maker Teams (CPT) headquarters in Chicago in the United State has confirmed that CPT member kidnapped in Iraq Tom Fox, 54 was found dead in Baghdad on Saturday morning.
Fox and three of his colleagues were kidnapped in November 2005 as they were on their peace making mission.
No information about the fate of the other three hostages is available. The three, Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74. were seen in a brief video on February 28. Fox was not seen in that video.
Allan Slater, a Canadian member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, said at the time that he was disturbed not to see Fox.
"We certainly are hopeful when we see three of our friends alive, but also it’s very distressing that we didn’t see Tom Fox, and I wouldn’t want to hide that because I’m sure it’s very distressful for Tom’s family and friends as well," Slater said.
Fox worked on three major projects: helping families of incarcerated Iraqis, escorting shipments of medicine to clinics and hospitals in Fallujah and helping form Islamic Peacemaker Teams.
The CPT is very active in the West Bank city of Hebron and some other Palestinian cities and has been very supportive of the Palestinian nonviolent movement.
The kidnappers demanded the United States to withdraw its military from Iraq in order for them to release the hostages.
The CPT group in Hebron told IMEMC in a phone interview that they will organize a sit in at the International Red Cross Committee in Hebron.
Several Palestinian and international peace groups and political factions called and signed petitions for the release of the CPT four. However, the identity of the captives is still unknown.
