The New Zealand Herald reported the vigil drew ‘nearly a hundred people’ including friends of Mr. Sooden, politicians and representatives from Pax Christi which is a Christian organisation.
Miriam Pierard a friend of Mr. Sooden said: “He went over there with these men to work for peace, to work with people less fortunate than himself, which is something he is always done. It is a terrible tragedy that this has happened to him of all people.”
Another friend Daniele Abreu e Lima said: “As a friend, I cannot do much. I just can pray and ask for people to pray with me. I didn’t want him to go. He said he had to. He thought he could make a difference for someone there. These small gestures may mean nothing to us but for those people they have great value.”
This torturous captivity for the team accuse of being spies have been going on for 10 days where Aldo Borgu a terrorism analyst from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said: “All Westerners were potential targets. There was no way of predicting what would happen next.”