John Cantlie: Video of British hostage released by ISIS

The Islamic State (ISIS) group has released a new video showing British man John Cantlie believed to be held hostage by the jihadist militants.

Dressed in orange, John Cantlie, who in 2012 escaped an earlier kidnapping in Syria, asks why he and others have been abandoned by the US and UK governments.

ISIS has recently killed three hostages and, in a video showing the death of UK aid worker David Haines, threatened to kill British man Alan Henning next.

No ISIS militants are seen in the video, which is entitled Lend Me Your Ears and is addressed to the Western public.

In it John Cantlie says other European governments have negotiated for the release of their hostages but says the US and UK have done things differently.

“After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why is it that our governments appear so keen to get involved in yet another unwinnable conflict?” he says.

He also says this is the first of several of what he calls programs in which he will explain the philosophy of ISIS.

From comments on the tape, it is clear it was made this year, but not precisely when.

The video featuring John Cantlie has been released nearly a week after footage depicting the death of David Haines, the first British hostage to be killed.

It was in that video that the life of Alan Henning, 47, from Salford, was threatened.

Alan Henning was a volunteer on an aid convoy in December 2013 when he was seized just after crossing into Syria.

Earlier, British Muslim leaders called for his immediate release, saying anyone undertaking a humanitarian act should be held in the highest esteem.

The video of David Haines’s death followed the killings of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff – which were also shown in videos – in August and earlier this month respectively.

On September 16, IS released a separate video, which was described by analysts as a video response to US air strikes.

The slickly produced, Hollywood-style trailer for a film entitled Flames of War refers to US President Barack Obama’s insistence that US combat troops would not be returning to fight in Iraq.

In an apparent taunt, it depicts wounded US troops, masked executioners standing over kneeling captives, and declares at the conclusion: “Fighting has just begun.”

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