A video released by Al-Jazeera television at the end of January raises hope that four men abducted and held hostage in Iraq may still be alive.

Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, as well as Briton Norman Kember and American Tom Fox were abducted at gunpoint in Baghdad November 26, 2005 as their driver and translator were left standing helplessly on the side of the road. The four men were in Iraq working with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).

The men had not been heard from since a December deadline passed for the kidnapper’s demands to be met.

However, on January 28, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast a video dated January 21, showing the men alive and seemingly well. It reported the kidnappers were giving one “last chance” for authorities to “release all Iraqi prisoners in return of freeing the hostages, otherwise their fate will be death.” There was no deadline given.

While encouraged by the video, CPT personnel say they have not received any new information regarding the hostages.

Bob Holmes, pastoral support coordinator for CPT in Toronto, also the CPT Centre for Iraq Support, says the organization has been sending many messages to the hostage-takers, using the same media as the hostage-takers—largely the Al-Jazeera television network that broadcasts out of Qatar in the Arabian Peninsula—but to no avail.

CPT workers, in addition to carrying on their work of documenting human rights abuses in Iraq, have actively pursued any hints at contact with the hostage-takers, but persistent efforts have led nowhere, says Holmes.

Although Iraqi Police are formally responsible for solving this crime, and the three respective governments (American, British and Canadian) have representatives working in the country, Holmes says “to CPT’s knowledge, they have no information on the case.”

While the four CPT hostages are receiving the bulk of media attention, Holmes also says it’s important to remember they aren’t the only ones—more than 300 Iraqis have been taken hostage since the four were abducted.

Many are released upon payment of a ransom, but Holmes laments the debilitating effect this is having on Iraqi society as those with the means to do so leave the country, robbing it of its professors and professionals—the very people needed for Iraq to recover from the devastation of more than 30 years of war and violence.

CPT volunteers in Iraq follow strict protocols designed to reduce the risk of another kidnapping or worse, including a total ban on carrying or using weapons;taking care to remain unpredictable in their movements, and keeping a low visibility.

In addition, and perhaps most importantly, says Holmes, CPT personnel also work hard to establish positive relationships with everyone in Iraq.

They try to demonstrate their fundamental premise that the “Christian” response to the enemy is to establish a relationship, says Holmes, “to touch the humanity of the enemy.” To that end, Allan Slater, 70, of Zorra Township, Ontario recently arrived in Iraq to replace Surrey, B.C. resident Greg Rollins, the first member of the Iraq team to come back to Canada since the kidnapping.

While CPT would have “…preferred a different means, one good thing coming out of the kidnapping [of the CPT personnel] is that people are more aware of what is happening in Iraq,” says Holmes.

David Pankratz spent six months in Iraq from June to December 2003 and is the director of the new Institute of Community Peacebuilding at Canadian Mennonite University.