The nightmare has ended for British peace campaigner Norman Kember, reunited with his wife after four months of captivity in Iraq. The 74-year-old was freed along with two other members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams group in a dramatic dawn rescue in Baghdad by special forces on Thursday. They were found manacled but unhurt in a house in the western suburbs of the Iraqi capital. Their captors had apparently fled.

A British military commander had criticised what he claimed was Kember’s refusal to thank his liberators. This was his response: “I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my release. I am not ready at this time to talk about my months of captivity except to say that I am delighted to be free and reunited with my family”. Kember’s joy is mixed with sadness however. The body of a fourth hostage, American Tom Fox, was found two weeks ago. He had been tortured and shot.

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