| THE KIDNAPPERS of five British hostages, captured in Baghdad nearly a year ago, were reported as happy this week with a video broadcast made in the House of Lords last Friday, in which Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, described them as “honourable” and “men of faith”.
Canon Andrew White, Chaplain of St George’s, Baghdad, and president of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME), also appears on the video.
He said on Wednesday that it had been essential to appeal to the kidnappers’ spiritual side. Four of the hostages had been his bodyguards, and the fifth was an IT specialist whom they were guarding when they were snatched on 29 May last year.
“I am going back to meet the guys, the hostage-takers. They are quite happy with the publicity and the press coverage. That is what they asked for,” he said. “They have said they are very pleased with the video. They wanted to see that we had an understanding of Islam.”
But Canon White said he would not offer money for their release. “I am not offering them money because we have no money. We will now just have to see what happens.”
He also rejected claims that the British Foreign office had not approved of the broadcast. “The Foreign Office was involved from the start, but it was important that they were seen to be at a distance,” he said. “Ours was a separate, religious approach.”
In his broadcast, Lord Carey, who is a patron of FRRME, directly addressed the kidnappers.
“Because God is compassionate,” he said, “may I appeal to you as honourable people to release these men, who have been away from their families for over a year.”
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