Appeals for the release of four Western aid workers taken hostage in Iraq mounted Friday as a new deadline set by their captors loomed.
In Ottawa, with only hours left before the kidnappers have threatened to kill the men, officials said efforts were continuing on behalf of the four peace activists.
"We continue to listen to anyone or be prepared to listen to anyone who has anything to say or to offer," Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, said in an interview.
"We are willing to speak to anyone in relation to this provided it has the outcome of freeing the prisoners."
He would not say if any direct contact with the kidnappers had been made. He said officials are "working with people on the ground" to communicate to the kidnappers that the hostages are "people who represent peace and goodwill."
There was little sign as the day progressed of movement in the situation
In Baghdad, Sunni clerics and residents of the war-torn city called for the hostage takers to free the four humanitarian aid workers, including Toronto-resident James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a former Montrealer who had been studying in New Zealand.
American Tom Fox, 54, and Briton Norman Kember, 74, are also being held. All four are affiliated with the aid group Christian Peacemakers Teams.
They were taken hostage at gunpoint in Baghdad on Nov. 26 by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, which accused them of spying.
The kidnappers have threatened to kill the four men by Saturday unless the United States frees all detained Iraqis. The deadline for the release has been pushed back once. Initially the group demanded the release of all prisoners by Thursday.
During prayers in the al-Imam al-Aadam mosque in the predominantly Sunni Arab neighbourhood of Azamiyah in north Baghdad, cleric Ahmed Hassan demanded that the four humanitarian workers be released.
"I stress on the necessity to release the four kidnapped foreigners who have helped the residents of Azamiyah," he said as residents held aloft protest banners.
Religious leaders from around the globe have already called on the kidnappers to free the men, citing their humanitarian efforts on behalf of the people of Iraq and their opposition to the war in that country.
Also in the Iraqi capital, Ehab Lotayef, a representative of the Canadian Islamic Congress who had travelled to Iraq to plead for the release of the men, said no contact had been made with their captors.
Speaking in a predominantly Sunni neighbourhood, Mr. Lotayef emphasized the peaceful nature of the work of the members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams and the respect Muslim groups have for the organization's efforts.
"I came here to Baghdad to personally say, to testify, in front of anyone who wants to hear it and hopefully when this is believed there will be no reason to hold the CPT members any more," he said.
"They are people who worked for Iraq, who always worked for all oppressed people in the world."
Throughout the crisis, the Canadian government has said it is "working urgently and closely with the Iraqi, U.K. and U.S. governments, both in capitals and on the ground in Baghdad" to secure the release of the four captives. Few details of Ottawa's efforts have been made public, however, with officials citing the sensitive nature of the case.
In New Zealand, members of Mr. Sooden's family say they're continuing to hold out hope that the men will be returned safely.
"We're hopeful they won't be harmed," Preety Brewer, Mr. Sooden's sister, said in a televised interview. "At this point, we have no other choice but to believe that they will be OK."
In Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Mr. Loney's family members said they were trying to cope as best they could under the circumstances.
"It's simply an overwhelming experience to have this unfold before everybody," Matt Loney, Mr. Loney's brother, told the network, again noting that his brother was "fighting for the Iraqi people" at the time of his abduction.
Over the past week, increasingly disturbing images of the men involved have been released by their kidnappers.
Just days after they were taken hostage, the group released video to Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera showing the four men together in a group. All appeared conscious and alert.
A second video released early this week, showed the men divided into two groups. The Canadians where shown eating from plates of biscuits and fruit in front of them. It was unclear when the video was shot or to what extent the men were coerced to make statements that they were being treated well.
A separate segment on the same tape, however, showed Mr. Kember and Mr. Fox isolated from the two. They were shown standing, with their hands restrained. In that portion of the tape, they both asked their governments to abide by their kidnappers' demands.
The more recently released tape did not show the Canadians. The other two men were again shown bound, but this time they were also blindfolded. They again asked that the British government and residents of both the United States and Britain to "do what they can to free us all from this captivity."
Mr. McTeague said Friday that he did not ascribe any significance to the fact that the Canadians had been left out of the most recent video and added that Ottawa had no reason to believe any change in how the men were being held had taken place.
"Hopefully, the next video will mean their release," he said. "We're optimistic that will happen."
On Thursday, a separate kidnapping in Iraq took a dire turn when a statement posted on the Internet under the name of the Islamic Army in Iraq said the group had killed an American captive.
The statement did not identify the man, although the group had previously said he was an American industrial electrician named Ronald Alan Schulz, 40.
The kidnapping of the four Western aid workers came amid a spate of recent hostage takings following a month-long lull.
Last week, German archeologist Susanne Osthoff was kidnapped separately. On Monday, gunmen grabbed French engineer Bernard Planche outside his home in Baghdad.
More than 200 foreigners have been taken captive in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. About 52 have been slain.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have predicted an increase in insurgent attacks ahead of the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections in Iraq.
With Associated Press
Terry Weber