CPTnet
3 April 2006

NEW ZEALAND: Harmeet Singh Sooden's statement to media

[Note: Sooden made the following statement to New Zealand media on 31 March
2006. Along with Norman Kember he was participating in a ten-day CPT
delegation to Iraq when kidnapped by the group calling itself the "Swords of
Righteousness Brigade."]

I would like to express my gratitude for the prayers and support that my
family and I have received from communities worldwide, and the assistance
provided by the New Zealand Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade and
Foreign Affairs Canada.

I acknowledge the burden that my family and friends have borne over the
last four months and I thank them for their efforts.

Furthermore, I am grateful to all those involved in the operation that
ultimately led to our freedom, especially individuals in the British armed
forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

I mourn the loss of my friend Tom Fox who was a dedicated peace activist and
a role model to me.

The primary reason for my participation in the Christian Peacemaker Team
Iraq delegation was to bear witness to the suffering of Iraqi people living
under a harsh military occupation, and to provide an alternative narrative,
based on humanitarian principles, to a New Zealand audience.

Thus, it was always important to me that the media (and therefore the
public) have ready and fair access to my stories, which is why I have
convened a press conference here today.

The issue many wish me to address is the particulars of our captivity.

I choose to ask a more crucial question:

What are the consequences of an illegal Anglo American invasion and
occupation with the complicity of a host of Western institutions, including
the New Zealand government, on ordinary human beings living in Iraq?

Surely it is a natural human instinct to promote the reduction of both
human rights violations and the risk of exacerbating regional armed
conflict.

Although we were held captive for 118 days, all of Iraq is a prison. Iraqis
must endure daily violence and insecurity, lack of food, contaminated water,
limited electricity and fuel supply, a breakdown in law and order, and they
carry fear and uncertainty about the future. Our captors, too, are prisoners
of this circumstance.

My experience in Iraq has reinforced my belief that the true impediment to
peace is violence, regardless of whether it be the violence of an occupying
army or the violence of an insurgent group which uses kidnapping to finance
its resistance to that occupation.

If one is serious about peace, one should be prepared to take the same
risks for peace as for war.

I continue to hold this conviction. Thank you.