AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The families of two hostages in Iraq pleaded for their release Wednesday as the deadline neared for the men to be executed.
Christian aid workers Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney were abducted Nov. 26. Both are Canadian citizens, but Sooden's family is in Auckland, New Zealand -- where Sooden's mother issued an appeal -- televised by the Arabic Al Jazeera news network -- for kidnappers to spare her son's life, the Wellington Dominion Post reported.
Muslim and Palestinian groups joined in asking a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness to free the men, along with two other aid workers, one from Britain, and the other from the United States. In Canada, Loney's family also made an emotional plea on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp for his release.
The kidnappers have accused the men of being spies, and say they will be executed Thursday unless Iraqi prisoners are released from U.S. and Iraqi detention centers.
