Daesh have release a new video showing a gaunt John Cantlie, the British journalist who has been held hostage by jihadis since 2012.
Cantlie last appeared in a video on March 19, and is now noticeably thinner with longer hair, raising concerns over his health. It is widely believed that he is speaking under duress.
The photographer’s experience as a journalist has been utilized by Daesh to lend credibility to their propaganda films, and he has appeared in a number of slickly made Daesh videos in the past.
The latest film, dated July 12, shows Cantlie standing by the bombed site of Mosul University, which was targeted by coalition planes. “You have to ask yourself: why did the coalition decide to destroy the university? Normal, social everyday life has been destroyed and if you are going to destroy a university, why bother?” he says.
The film also sees Cantlie criticise the British government's refusal to negotiate with terrorists and hostage-takers.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the video and was “analysing its contents”
Cantlie’s father, Paul, died in 2014, while working to free his son. The journalist’s sister, Jessica, has attacked the government’s inability to bring him home and pleaded for his release last year.
AM
