Freed hostage Kember thought of suicide during Iraq ordeal

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Freed British hostage Norman Kember was so depressed during his captivity in Iraq that he thought of suicide, he said today.

The 74-year-old Christian peace activist thought his own death might help his Canadian fellow hostages, he said in an emotional account of his ordeal.

But there would have been no means for killing himself even if he had decided to do so, he said.

Mr Kember, from Pinner, north west London, wept as he re-lived his rescue last month by the SAS on BBC Radio 4 programme, Taking a Stand.

He also disclosed that he had received hate mail since he returned home for allegedly not being sufficiently grateful to the soldiers who saved him.

Mr Kember was released on March 23 after being held for four months.

Mr Kember told journalist Fergal Keane: "When you're really depressed you think of suicide but that's impossible, there aren't the means for doing it."

Asked if he thought of it, he said: "I did. I did a bit, yes. Because I thought it might help the Canadians. If they got rid of the Brit then the Canadians might find it a bit easier."

Mr Kember wept as he recalled his rescue by the SAS.

He said: "It was so sudden. First of all, because they were British, they wanted to know if Mr Kember was there.

"I was at that stage chained to the door. They said, 'Oh, it's a bolt-cutter job', and they cut the padlock and released me."

Mr Kember said he and his three fellow hostages were kidnapped when they were in a car with a driver and a translator.

"We were just driving out towards the main road, when a car stopped in front of us, and out popped four men with guns, pushed out the driver and the translator, and took over the car. They told, I think Jim, to lie on the floor, and pointed guns at him, and off we were driven."

Asked how he felt at that moment, he said: "It was just unreal, that's what kidnapping's all about."

Three or four of the hostages used to sit handcuffed together for about 12 hours a day, he said.

"We faced a window which was generally closed, windows with curtains over, so it was dim light in the room."

In the morning a window would be opened to let some fresh air in - "and we would see a bit of sunlight".

One of the hostages, 54-year-old American Tom Fox, was murdered. His body was found with bullet wounds, dumped near a railway line in Baghdad on March 9. There was evidence he had been beaten.

Mr Kember and two Canadian hostages, James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were freed in a multinational military operation involving the SAS and other forces.

The four westerners were seized on November 26 while on a visit to support the Canada-based international peace group Christian Peacemaker Teams.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

Copyright Press Association 2006