The
video, which has not been independently verified, shows journalist John
Cantlie sat alone in a dark room wearing a baggy orange short-sleeved
t-shirt.
His
voice is clear and calm as he addresses the camera in a slickly-edited
propaganda video that is markedly different to footage released by the
jihadi militants in recent weeks.
Appearing
to read from a script, Mr Cantlie says that he came to Syria in
November 2012, where he was subsequently kidnapped by the Islamic State
group.
Hostage: British
journalist John Cantlie sits alone at a desk in a darkened room in a
slickly-edited propaganda video released today by the Islamic State
His voice is clear and calm as he
addresses the camera in a slickly-edited propaganda video that is
markedly different to footage released by the jihadi militants in recent
weeks
He
is the third Briton known to have been captured by the Islamic State.
The extremists have already posted a video online that shows the
beheading of aid worker David Haines - and they have threatened to kill
Alan Henning, who was captured by the group last December.
It is believed that more than 20 foreign nationals are being held hostage by the Islamic State.
It
is the second time that Mr Cantlie was kidnapped while working in the
country. He and a Dutch photographer were captured in July 2012 while
covering the civil war between President Assad's army and rebel
fighters.
After
one failed escape attempt in which both men were shot, they were later
able to flee with the help of the Free Syrian Army.
The ordeal left Mr Cantlie with nerve damage in his left arm and limited movement in his fingers.
Identifying
himself in the video as a journalist who worked for 'some of the bigger
newspapers' in the UK, Mr Cantlie criticises the war on the Islamic
State and says that he and other British and U.S. hostages have been
abandoned by their governments.
He
remains calm as he says that he has 'nothing to lose' before adding
'maybe I will live and maybe I will die'. At one point he makes a gun
gesture at his head.
Entitled
'Lend me Your ears,' the three-minute long video is previewed as the
first in a series of 'programmes' in which Cantlie says he will reveal
'the truth' about the Islamic State.
The claim suggests that the group will release further videos of the British hostage. It is not known when the clip, which was released by the group's media arm, Al-Furqan, was filmed.
The
lecture-style video is different than brutal footage released by the
jihadi group, which showed a masked militant beheading other hostages.
Unlike
the group's previous videos, no Islamic State fighters appear alongside
Mr Cantlie. He is also seen sitting at a table in a darkened room,
rather than outside in the desert.
Mr Cantlie, pictured in June 2012, and
a Dutch photographer were captured in July 2012 while covering the
civil war between President Assad's army and rebel fighters
It
is the second time that Mr Cantlie has been held as a hostage in Syria.
In July 2012, Mr Cantlie was held for a week by Islamic extremists
along with Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans.
Mr
Cantlie and his colleague were captured while they were covering the
civil war between President Assad's army and rebel fighters.
The
two men were kidnapped when they went to a camp they had previously
visited - just two miles from the Turkish border - that they thought
belonged to the Free Syrian Army.
But
the men weren't Syrians. They were jihadists who had travelled to the
country hoping to overthrow the regime and establish an Islamist state.
Some
of them spoke English with British accents. About nine of the men in
the camp had London accents - and two could not speak any Arabic.
One
of the men who had come from the UK accused the journalists of being
spies - but Mr Cantlie later said there was another British man, a
trained doctor, who treated the captives humanely.
Mr Cantlie later said that the man was planning to return to his senior post in a South London A&E department.
When
Mr Cantlie tried to escape on the second of his seven days in
captivity, one of those who opened fire was British, wounding him in the
elbow and his Dutch friend in the leg.
He was later treated by the doctor, who was using a clearly labelled NHS medical kit.
Escaped: Mr Cantlie, pictured after he
fled Syria in 2012, and his Dutch colleague Jeroen Oerlemans were
kidnapped when they went to a camp they had previously visited, unaware
that terrorists had taken it over
When asked his name, he told the captives: ‘Just call me the doctor – I’m the only one here.’
The
medic, who said he was 28 and had a wife and child in Britain, was also
among the leaders of a group who were planning to behead ‘spies’ and
was furious when the execution of two Syrians he believed to be
undercover agents was halted.
Speaking
at the time, Mr Cantlie told the Daily Mail of his British captor:
‘When he told me he was an NHS doctor, I thought it was weird.
‘This
is a man who has taken an oath to save people and help them, and here
he is walking around with a Kalashnikov and preaching sharia law. There
are not any doctors who I know that do that.
‘He
clearly believed in what he was doing but to follow something to that
extreme is the disturbing thing. He was visibly upset when the execution
was called off.’
In
a macabre twist, the doctor, who spoke in a South London accent and
kept his face covered with sunglasses and a scarf – said he was glad of
the experience in Syria as when he returned to Britain as he wanted to
specialise in trauma injuries.
Mr
Cantlie added: ‘He said treating jihadists wounded in battle was good
training and had a pack of gauzes, medicine, IV drips and medical gear.
‘As he treated the gunshot wound in my arm, he clearly knew what he was doing. He was very well-trained.’
He
said of the doctor: ‘I asked for his help as we were both from London
but he refused to even send a text to my girlfriend to say we were
alive. He said he would be beheaded if he did.
‘He said, “I can’t be in here too long because the other guys say I’m too nice to you”.’
‘He
stabilised Jeroen with saline drips, that had NHS logos, gave him
antibiotics and stitched his wound. His assistant, another Londoner,
bandaged my wounds. This guy had shot at me as we tried to escape.
The
next day, to Mr Cantlie’s horror, he saw a trestle table being erected
and heard knives being sharpened, but later learned these were for two
Syrians who were eventually spared after repenting and promising to
follow sharia law.
Throughout
his ordeal, Mr Cantlie was kept handcuffed in a tent. On one occasion
he heard the doctor on the phone to his family.
Both
photographers eventually managed to escape from the camp in Northern
Syria with the help of the Free Syrian Army, the rebels fighting Assad's
forces.
Speaking after his return to the UK, Mr Cantlie, who
suffered nerve damage in his left arm and now has only limited movement
in his fingers, said he was still eager to return to Syria to report on
the war despite his traumatic experience.
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He
said: ‘I am itching to get back out there. The only thing stopping me
is my cameras, as I lost them out there and need to buy some more.’
Jihadists: An undated file image
posted on a militant website shows fighters from the Islamic State
marching in the terror stronghold of Raqqa in Syria
In
November 2012, Mr Cantlie decided to go back to Syria to continue his
reporting from the warzone - and some of his photographs from that trip
appeared in a Sunday Telegraph article. It was during this trip that Mr
Cantlie was abducted.
Nothing was publicly heard of Mr Cantlie after that date until the release of the latest video by the IS fighters.
In
Copenhagen today, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the
Islamic State group 'is not just a threat to the stability of the Middle
East region but to all of us in our homelands.'
Asked about the video, he told reporters that he had heard about it but has not yet seen it.
'Obviously we'll look very closely at any material that's been released on the Internet,' he said, declining further comment.
Deputy
Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the BBC the Foreign Office would examine
the video to 'look at its origins and check its veracity'.
He said an international effort would squeeze the Islamic State 'out of existence'.
He added: 'I don't think we need any reminding of what an odious and barbaric movement Isil is.
'They
call themselves Islamic State, (but) they are nothing to do with Islam,
which is a peace-loving religion, they are certainly not a state, it's
just a murderous medieval terrorist outfit.
The video of John Cantlie emerged just
days after British aid worker Alan Henning, pictured, appeared in
footage released by the terror group
He
added: 'Their methods are cynical, they are violent, they are brutal
and I think it is right that the world will be coming together next week
at the United Nations' general assembly, which will be a very important
get together for world leaders, to really decide how the world
co-operates together in support of the legitimate governments in the
region in order to, bit by bit, dismantle and squeeze Isil out of
existence.'
It
comes just a day after more than 100 Muslim leaders signed a statement
begging the jihadi group to release British aid worker Alan Henning.
The
Islamic State, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq, has already
beheaded two American journalists and one British aid worker in recent
weeks in what it said was reprisal for U.S. air strikes against the
group in Iraq.
Mr
Henning is currently facing death at the hands of ISIS's British
executioner 'Jihadi John' and was paraded before the cameras in a video
of fellow hostage David Haines's murder.
Dozens
of Imams from around the UK criticised the terror group as 'monsters'
for the brutal murder of Mr Haines and insisted killing Mr Henning would
be 'un-Islamic'.
U.S.
President Barack Obama has been trying to build an international
coalition to destroy Islamic State, a militant group which has exploited
the chaos of Syria and Iraq's conflict to seize swathes of territories
in both countries.
The
United States has already carried out scores of air strikes against the
group in Iraq and Obama said in a policy speech he would not hesitate
to strike it in Syria as well.
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