Norman Frank Kember was born on 1931 and is an emeritus professor of biophysics at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and a Christian pacifist active in campaigning on issues of war and peace.
15 Facts About Norman Kember
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Norman Kember has been involved with the "Peace Zone" at the annual Greenbelt Festival.
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Norman Kember became internationally known in 2005 when, as a member of a delegation of Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq, he was taken hostage with three other CPT members, leading to a widely publicised hostage crisis.
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On 5 December 2005, Norman Kember's wife made a plea for his release.
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Norman Kember himself assumes that the non-violent manner of his release was a result of a previous campaign to get hold of one of his captors who obviously uncovered the address of the place in return for allowance to inform his comrades that they should stay away from the place.
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Norman Kember was repeatedly criticised for his response toward the military forces involved in his release.
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Norman Kember refused to provide military intelligence with any information regarding his captors.
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Norman Kember requested the withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.
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Norman Kember's alleged lack of gratitude was criticised as not being characteristic of true Christian values.
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Norman Kember wrote an account of his kidnapping, Hostage in Iraq, which was published in 2007.
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Norman Kember considers it an irony that he travelled to Iraq to oppose the military intervention and was flown out of Baghdad in a military helicopter, guarded by machine guns.
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Norman Kember discusses whether his peace testimony has been compromised and what alternatives would have been at hand.
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Many individuals and groups asked for Norman Kember's release; including: Terry Waite, radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and Briton Moazzam Begg, a former detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
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In May 2008, Norman Kember controversially provided bail security for the release of Abu Qatada.
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Qatada, who requested the release of Norman Kember, entered the UK using a forged passport but was allowed to remain in the UK on appeal under the British Human Rights Act 1998 and European Convention on Human Rights, despite suspected continued terrorist involvement, and was held in prison until his release by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.