London: A new propaganda video featuring a British photojournalist captured almost two years ago by Islamic State group in Syria, reading scripted messages has been released by the dreaded terrorist outfit.
John Cantlie, 43, read an apparently scripted message, criticising the approach of the UK and US on hostage negotiations.
The journalist also read emails reportedly exchanged between IS and the families of hostages.
The video comes just days after his 80-year-old father Paul Cantlie died from complications following pneumonia.
He appears in the fifth instalment of a series entitled “Lend Me Your Ears”, sitting behind a desk wearing an orange jumpsuit as he has in previous episodes.
He says: “Now, unless we tried something stupid like escaping or doing something we shouldn’t, we were treated well by the Islamic State.” “Some of us who tried to escape were waterboarded by our captors, as Muslim prisoners are waterboarded by their American captors.”
His six-and-a-half minute video ends with a promise of more messages to come. Cantlie’s father had also recorded a video message from his hospital bed urging IS to release his son.
Jessica Cantlie, John’s sister, has also appealed for “direct contact” with the militants.
John, an experienced journalist and photographer, has been held captive in Syria twice. He was kidnapped in July 2012, and handcuffed and blindfolded for a week, but escaped with the help from the Free Syrian Army.
A second kidnapping happened when he returned to Syria towards the end of 2012. The latest statement makes no reference to recent events.
In fact in an article published in IS’s own English-language online propaganda magazine, Cantlie wrote that he had recorded eight episodes which would be released one by one. Since August, IS has posted films online of the deaths of four western hostages.
UK aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, and American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded on camera by the jihadist organisation. (PTI)