[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens appeal for release of hostages, including GP member

[Jim Stauffer]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, December 5, 2005


GREENS APPEAL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF FOUR PEACE ACTIVIST
HOSTAGES

Hostages include Green Party member Tom Fox; Greens direct appeal
to Middle East press, including al Jazeera.


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party called for the immediate
release of four hostages who were seized in Baghdad on Saturday,
November 26.  All are members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT);
one of them, Tom Fox, is a member of the Virginia Green Party.

"The four peaceworkers taken as hostages have put their lives on
the line to help the Iraqi people and end the occupation," said
Audrey Clement, Green Party of Virgnia delegate to the Green Party
of the United States.  "We appeal especially to the Middle East
media, including al Jazeera, to broadcast our request for the
kidnappers to release the CPT hostages unharmed and as quickly as
possible.  Holding them hostage serves no purpose -- please help
us make it possible for Tom Fox and his fellow peace activists see
their families again."

The Green Party of the United States, like the Christian
Peacemaker Teams, has strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq,
and the Green Party has repeatedly called for an immediate
withdrawal of U.S. troops occupying Iraq.

Greens noted that the four CPT members were traveling unarmed and
without bodyguards, which is inconsistent with the accusation that
they are spies or acting in any capacity with the U.S. government
or armed forces. 

Tom Fox, 54, resident of Clear Brook, Virginia, and a member of
Langley Hill Friends Meeting, has been working with CPT in Baghdad
documenting human rights abuses and promoting peace.  Most
recently, he had been actively working to develop Muslim
Peacemaking Teams in Baghdad.  Mr. Fox's web log can be read at
<http://waitinginthelight.blogspot.com>.

An online petition for the release of the CPT hostages has been
signed by authors Arundhati Roy and Tariq Ali; Denis Halliday,
former U.N. Assistant Secretary General and Head of the U.N.
Humanitarian Program in Iraq; antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan;
Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of Rachel Corrie, who was killed
by Israeli military; Ralph Nader; historian Howard Zinn; Noam
Chomsky; and thousands of others
<http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/freethecpt>.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Green Party Peace Action Committee (GPAX)
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/

Green Party of Virginia
http://www.vagreenparty.org/

Christian Peacemaker Teams
http://www.cpt.org/


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