Norman Kember, the Christian activist who was kidnapped in Iraq and freed in a military operation, has said that he will not testify against his captors.

The 74-year-old issued a statement, along with his fellow hostages, the Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, which said that they forgave their captors for putting them through the ordeal.

Kidnappers held the three men, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, for 118 days, during which videos of the captives were released. However a fourth captive, American Tom Fox, was killed.

In a news conference, Mr Kember, from Pinner, north-west London, said: "If it was necessary to take part in a trial to plead for clemency and that was the only way we could come to it, then we would take part, but that would be the only reason to take part."

Meanwhile, the joint statement issued added: "We have no desire to punish them. Punishment can never restore what was taken from us.

"What our captors did was wrong. They caused us, our families and our friends great suffering. Yet we bear no malice towards them and have no wish for retribution."

It is believed that the three men are concerned that the criminal process may cause further radicalisation and increase the cycle of violence in Iraq.

Mr Loney said: "We do not have enough information at this stage to make a decision as to whether we are going to testify or not."

The press conference is the the first time the three men have met up since the ordeal in which the hostage-takers threatened to kill them all.

Since then, it has emerged that hostage negotiators feared that, after almost four months in captivity, Mr Kember might have been too frail to survive an SAS assault on the kidnappers' hideout. Consequently, the armed gang was given 15 minutes to flee before the rescue operation began.

Shortly after they were released, General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the British Army, said he was "saddened that there doesn't seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives".

The statement issued also alluded to "catastrophic" violence in Iraq which was "inextricably linked" to the US-led invasion and occupation.

It also said: "Kidnapping is a capital offence in Iraq and we understand that some of our captors could be sentenced to death.

"The death penalty is an irrevocable judgment. It erases all possibility that those who have harmed others, even seriously, can yet turn to good. We oppose the death penalty."