Hostage Deadline Closes
Family and friends of British hostage Norman Kember are praying for his release as the deadline set by his kidnappers in Iraq closes.
A radical group says it will kill the 74-year-old peace activist today unless all prisoners in the country are freed.
Fears for his life grew yesterday after another Iraqi militant group claimed to have killed American engineer Ronald Schulz.
The Swords of Righteousness Brigade has not set a precise hour to carry out its threat against Mr Kember and his three colleagues, two of them Canadian and one American.
British officials have appealed for the kidnappers to contact them but so far there has been no word.
Sunni Arab clerics in Baghdad have asked for the release of the four men because of their humanitarian work and opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.
Muslims at Finsbury Park mosque in north London, long associated with Islamic radicalism, have also said prayers for Mr Kember's safe return.
Mr Kember, from Pinner, northwest London, was seized in Baghdad on November 26 with James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both Canadians, and American Tom Fox, 54.
He had travelled to Iraq as a gesture of solidarity with the Christian Peacemaker Team, a Canadian-based international peace group.
Mr Kember and fellow hostages have been seen in footage released by the kidnappers wearing orange boiler suits, a grim echo of the pictures of previous British hostage Ken Bigley, who was murdered in October last year.
Skynews
