Free the CPT - Appeal for the Christian Hostages in Iraq

I recently received a request to publicize an appeal, included in full below, for the release of Tim Fox and the other three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members currently being held hostage in Iraq. Even though I'm unable to translate it into Arabic as requested, I did manage to find an Arabic version of a similar appeal for these four hostages, which can be found here. I encourage everyone, especially my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, to please make an effort to make as many people aware of this appeal as possible and to pray for the safe release of these well-intentioned, innocent and clearly anti-war and non-combatant hostages.

To those who are holding these four Christians hostages in Iraq, I would like to appeal to them both as fellow human beings and as Muslims by saying the following:

• We recognize the suffering and death that has been caused in Iraq by the unjust and unlawful invasion by the United States and her allies. However, the four people that you are holding hostage were and are completely opposed to the invasion of Iraq and the on-going war that it brought about. Due to this, it would be unjust to make them pay the penalty for crimes that others committed. Indeed, Almighty God says in the Qur'an: "No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another" (39:7), so please take this into heartfelt consideration. Punishing innocent people for the crimes of others is something that the Zionists do in Palestine, thus no Muslim would never want to emulate such unjust actions. Rather we should seek to emulate the teachings of our noble Prophet—salla Allahu 'alayhi was salam—who taught that mercy and forgiveness are always better, even when justice is called for. In contrast to a case where guilty criminals are detained for their crimes, in this case there's no real question of what justice demands, since punishing these four people who only wanted to promote peace in Iraq would be a grave injustice.
  


• Please realize that the four Christians that you are holding hostage are certainly not spies, since they went to Iraq on their own free will in order to help promote peace and bring an end to the war. Please know that in the United States, in spite of the current Bush administration and some of this country's other shortcomings, people here are allowed to openly oppose their government and its policies. Thus there can be no doubt that these four members of a Christian Peacemaker Team would be able to travel to Iraq on their own accord and without cooperation from the U.S. government. You may have concluded that by the mere fact they were in Iraq that they must have somehow been cooperating with, or were being assisted by, the United States government—but this certainly isn't the case.
  

We pray that you take these words to heart, as well as the following words from a close friend of one of the four men that you are holding hosage:

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An Open Letter to our Brothers holding Tom Fox and other CPT members in Iraq:

Dear Brothers in the one God:

It is early morning in America. I am a Quaker and I am trying to find words to stay your hand. I can only say that hatred is blind and love is unconditional.

Many people from our nation have come to your nation in blind hatred and killed innocent people. Tom Fox is not one of these people. He came to your nation with all his human fears, because his love was unconditional. He came to ask his own people not to kill you. He came not to judge you, innocent or guilty, but to say live together in peace and find a better way. He did not come to change your government, but to change our own people's hearts towards you.

He came to your country in the same light that Rachel Corrie went to Palestine to stand in the way of Israeli tractors destroying Palestinian homes. To spare Tom Fox and his companions is to show the Israeli people that it was wrong take the young life of Rachael Corrie.

I ask you to stay your hand, because we will still love you, no less or no more, if you break our hearts by taking the life of these good people who love you.

I ask you to stay your hand because you can. When you stand before your God, next to the American who wore an army uniform, next to the one who drove the tractor that killed Rachael Corrie, and our God asks each of you, why have you taken the lives of innocents, what difference will there be in your answer? When, some day, and I pray after a long life of loving works, Tom stands before our God and is asked why he placed his life in your hands, I think you know his answer. Because hatred is blind and love is unconditional.

"Whoever has saved a life, it will be as if he has saved the life of all mankind" (Quran 5:32)

Gods love and mercy to thee

In unmovable Friendship

Lorcan Otway
A member of the committee of Ministry and Counsel for the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (also known as Quakers)

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More information and appeals in Arabic can be found here: