Iraq hostage believes ransom paid

Harmeet Singh Sooden (left) was held captive for 118 days

A peace activist held hostage in Iraq for nearly four months says he believes a ransom was paid for his freedom.

Harmeet Singh Sooden said he had no evidence but "instinct" told him money had been exchanged for his release and that of his two fellow hostages.

Mr Sooden, 33, a Canadian who lives in New Zealand, was freed last week after being held by militants in Baghdad.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government had not paid a ransom for Mr Sooden.

The activist for the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) group was released unhurt along with fellow Canadian James Loney and Briton Norman Kember.

A fourth hostage captured at the same time in Baghdad, US citizen Tom Fox, was found shot dead earlier this month.

I didn't want money to be paid for me to be released because I know where that money is going to go Harmeet Singh Sooden, Released hostage

Speaking publicly for the first time since his release, Mr Sooden said he believed he and his colleagues had been captured "to fund the insurgency".

"They kept telling us that 'if we wanted to kill you, you wouldn't have been given the treatment you have been given'," Reuters news agency reported.

He said it was highly unusual his captors had been absent when the three men were freed from a house west of Baghdad by multinational forces, adding that he disapproved of the payment of ransom to secure the release of hostages.

"I wanted to be released. I didn't want money to be paid for me to be released because I know where that money is going to go," he said.

"I'd rather it went on social work or feeding people who need food, not on killing people."

Bloodless swoop

But Ms Clark said the New Zealand government had not paid a ransom.

"We did keep very close to the Canadian authorities and we would be surprised if we hadn't heard of any such developments," she told Radio New Zealand.

No kidnappers were found in the bloodless swoop which reportedly followed a tip-off by one of the group who had been captured earlier.

Their rescue followed a weeks-long operation by British troops and US and Canadian special forces.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Canadian special forces were in Iraq only temporarily to carry out the rescue.