McLEAN, Va. — In the plain, white room where Tom Fox had attended Quaker meetings, his friends greeted the deadline laid down for his execution Saturday as they believed he would have wanted them to — in silent communion.

From cell doors that haven't locked properly to the beating death of one inmate by another, Richmond's jailhouse has faced its share of criticism this year.

With their hands cupping lighted candles, a small group of people stood out in a cold parking lot and chanted, "This little light of mine, I'm gon' let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."

While the captivity of Virginia peace activist Tom Fox has filled his friends in the United States with uncertainty and concern, they're at least assured now that his work in Iraq is known and appreciated there.

As the deadline for hostage Tom Fox's execution approached in Iraq, Muslims and Quakers gathered at a Sterling mosque yesterday afternoon to pray together for his safe return and that of three other Western peace activists kidnapped in Baghdad two weeks ago.

A group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade has declared that the four hostages will die today if the United States and Britain do not release Iraqi prisoners.

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prominent Sunni Arab clerics and residents of a Baghdad neighborhood where four kidnapped Christian humanitarian workers had aided people appealed Friday for their release a day before a deadline set by their abductors to kill them.

People of faith who keep U.S. soldiers in their prayers shouldn't forget the peacemakers.

Four members of Christian Peacemaking Teams are threatened with execution today by their terrorist kidnappers in Iraq. One of the four, Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va., has connections to Guilford College, where a peace vigil in his honor is under way today.

Peace activist Tom Fox has lived in Baghdad by the words of Jesus. Now he faces murder by terrorists. Was his mission in vain?