Harmeet Singh Sooden

In 2011, Sooden joined Freedom Flotilla II aboard the Canadian vessel MV Tahrir to highlight the West's support for Israel's closure of Gaza. Other participants included Amira Hass, a prominent Israeli journalist, and Canadian Kevin Neish who was aboard the ill-fated MV Mavi Marmara in 2010 during the Gaza flotilla raid on the first Freedom Flotilla when Israeli special forces killed nine civilians. Sooden stated the New Zealand Government's stance on the flotilla initiative was effectively authorising Israel to 'kidnap' the flotilla participants in international waters.

In 2010, it came to light that Sooden was the subject of an investigation by the Special Investigation Groups (SIG) as a suspect for defacing Oscmar's premises with graffiti. The SIG is a New Zealand Police unit "dedicated to the investigation of national security-related crime including terrorism". Sooden was quoted as saying his case appeared to be "one of many in which individuals and groups are being targeted by the [SIG] on spurious grounds."

In 2009 and 2015, he briefly returned to Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams on short-term assignments.

Former hostages Sooden and James Loney were among the 250 Canadians who risked charges under Canada's anti-terrorism legislation in the spring of 2009 for contributing funds towards a plane ticket for Abousfian Abdelrazik. Abdelrazik is a Canadian citizen who was detained in Sudan by the Sudanese Government at Canada's request, tortured, imprisoned for two years without charge, and then denied travel documents to return to Canada. The ticket the Canadians purchased helped to expose how the Canadian Government was actively blocking his return and led to the June 2009 court ruling which forced the Canadian Government to bring him home.

When he attempted to return to the OPT in 2008, he was declared a "threat to the security of the State of Israel" and removed from Israel after being injured and detained incommunicado for four days. The New Zealand Government launched an inquiry into his treatment by Israeli authorities. Ultimately, the New Zealand and Canadian governments refused to take any further action.

On 23 May 2007, James Loney released a public statement saying that he would not be testifying against his captors citing the lack of transparency in Iraqi courts, the limited access to lawyers and the death penalty: "I recently informed the RCMP that I will not testify. I cannot participate in a judicial process where the prospects of a fair trial are negligible, and more crucially, where the death penalty is a possibility."

Harmeet Singh Sooden (born 1973) is a Canadian-New Zealand anti-war activist who volunteered for the international NGO Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. He was held captive in Baghdad with three others for almost four months until being freed by multi-national forces on 23 March 2006.

On 23 July 2006, Sooden did an extensive interview with journalist Sahar Ghumkhor, in which he discussed his reflections on his visits in Iraq before the kidnapping, his captivity, his release and the response of the media.

On 23 March 2006, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced: "The three hostages...have been released as a result of a multinational force operation which took place earlier today.... British forces were involved in this operation. It follows weeks and weeks of very careful work by our military and coalition personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well." It has been reported that the operation included the SAS from Task Force Black, a unit primarily tasked to kill or capture high-value enemy targets. Task Force Black have since been implicated in human rights abuses at secret detention facilities, including Camp Nama and H1. There were unconfirmed reports and speculation that elements of the Canadian special-operations unit Joint Task Force 2 also took part in the release operation. The identity and extent of the Canadian military contribution and the nature of its participation, if any, are unknown. Reports indicate that no kidnappers were present at the house where the hostages were found and no shots were fired during the operation. While it is clear the hostages were freed as part of a military operation, it is not publicly known how the Coalition Forces derived the information leading to their whereabouts, and whether they were rescued or released as part of a negotiated settlement.

In October 2006, the Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) informed the ex-hostages that an unspecified number of men, alleged to be their kidnappers, had been captured. The authorities asked them to testify at what was described as their kidnappers' trial at the Central Criminal Court of Iraq.

On 8 December 2006, the three survivors publicly forgave their captors at a press conference held at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, England. On this very day a year earlier, their kidnappers had threatened to execute them. In their joint statement of forgiveness they said, "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us. We have no desire to punish them.... Should those who have been charged with holding us hostage be brought to trial and convicted, we ask that they be granted all possible leniency. We categorically lay aside any rights we may have over them."

On 14 August 2006, Fox News Channel journalists Olaf Wiig (a New Zealander) and Steve Centanni in the Gaza Strip were abducted by a previously unknown Palestinian group. Sooden publicly called on the kidnappers to release Wiig and Centanni, while pointing out the context within which the kidnapping had taken place.

The Christian Peacemaker Teams hostage crisis precipitated when four human rights workers of CPT, James Loney, Norman Kember, Tom Fox and Harmeet Singh Sooden, were abducted in Baghdad, Iraq on 26 November 2005 by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. The kidnapping made media headlines around the world. The hostage-takers released videos accusing the men of being spies working for the coalition forces and threatening to execute them. On 9 March 2006, one of the hostages, Tom Fox, was executed. The remaining three were freed as part of a military operation on 23 March 2006.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is an international organisation set up to support teams of peace workers in conflict areas around the world. One aspect of CPT's work in Iraq during the US occupation was to collect and publicise evidence of detainee abuse. Investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker magazine, who helped to expose the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal in 2004, cited the organisation in his articles. In an interview with Democracy Now, he said:

There have been media reports suggesting the Christian Peacemaker Teams kidnapping is linked to the abductions of British aid worker Margaret Hassan in 2004 and United States journalist Jill Carroll in 2006, and to extrajudicial killings (for example, the death of Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri in 2007).

In 2004, Sooden volunteered for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. ISM is an international human rights organisation composed of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals who monitor the human rights situation and protect human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).

Sooden was born and raised in Zambia. His parents are Sikhs from Kashmir. His great-grandfather fought for the British Indian Army in World War I and died in Basra in 1916 during the Mesopotamian Campaign. As an inspiration for peace work, he cites his grandfather who was a career soldier in the British Indian Army and then the Indian Army. He says he was also motivated by the experiences of a friend who survived the World Trade Center attack on 11 September 2001, and the ordeal of Maher Arar, a university classmate who was subjected to extraordinary rendition and torture.