Hostage appears to tell family to give up
Journalist hed by ISIS since 2012
John Cantlie, the British journalist held hostage by Islamic State militants in Syria, has apparently told his family to give up hope of seeing him alive again.
In comments made in an article written for Islamic State’s online propaganda magazine, Cantlie said it was time for them to “let him go” and “get on with their lives.”
The message appeared to be urging Cantlie’s family to give up on their publicity campaign and behindthe-scenes efforts to get him freed. In October, his elderly father Paul Cantlie, who was in poor health, made a televised appeal from his hospital bed to plead for his son’s release. Paul Cantlie, who was 81 at the time, died later that month.
His son, 44, was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in November 2012 and is now believed to be the only western hostage held by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS and ISIL. Two British aid workers who were kidnapped by the group, David Haines and Alan Henning, were killed last year.
John Cantlie, who has appeared in a series of propaganda videos for Islamic State, made his latest comments in the magazine Dabiq, a mouthpiece for the jihadists. He thanked friends and relatives for trying to get him released, and criticized his government for refusing to pay a ransom.
It is not possible to say whether Cantlie definitely wrote the article, or, if so, to what extent it was written under duress.
Gunmen claiming to be members of Islamic State have seized control of a state-run radio station in Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, residents said Friday.
Jihadist websites posted pictures showing armed men sitting in front of microphones in a studio and brandishing Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Sirte, the home city of Moammar Gadhafi, has become a stronghold of extremists since the dictator was toppled and killed in 2011.