Hostage appeals to Obama
ISLAMABAD: A US citizen abducted by al-Qaeda more than two years ago has appealed to President Barack Obama to negotiate his release in a video sent to some journalists yesterday.
In the 13-minute video and an accompanying handwritten letter issued by the terrorist network’s al-Sahab media wing, Warren Weinstein, 72, said he felt “totally abandoned and forgotten”.
Weinstein, an employee of Virginia consulting firm, JE Austin and Associates, which runs development projects for the US Agency for International Development, was kidnapped on August 13, 2011, from Lahore in eastern Pakistan.
“You are now in your second term as president of the United States, and that means you can take hard decisions without worrying about re-election,” Weinstein said.
His letter was dated October 3. The US State Department said the authenticity of the video and letter were being checked.
In a video appeal in September 2012, Weinstein, who is Jewish, sought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- tanyahu’s help for his safe release, complaining that the US government “showed no interest” in his case. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claimed responsibility for the abduction and had issued a set of demands, including a halt to US military strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere and the release of terrorism suspects in US custody.
“The years have taken their toll,” Weinstein said in the video, describing heart problems and asthma.
Weinstein is among half a dozen high-profile figures kidnapped by al-Qaeda in Pakistan including a German citizen and son of Pakistani ex-prime minster Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Pakistani intelligence officials believe all these hostages are being kept in tribal regions near the Afghan border, which are under the control of Islamist militants. – Sapa-DPA