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british hostage
Islamic State (ISIS) militants have released a video purporting to show the killing of British hostage Alan Henning.
Taxi driver Alan Henning, 47, was delivering aid to Syria in December when he was kidnapped then held hostage by ISIS.
ISIS had threatened to kill Alan Henning in a video showing the killing of Briton David Haines last month.
The UK Foreign Office said it was trying to verify the video, and if true it was a “further disgusting murder”.
On September 30, Alan Henning’s wife Barbara appealed for his release, saying: “He is innocent.”
ISIS has previously released videos showing the apparent killings of two US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and Briton David Haines.
The video released on October 3 is yet to be verified, but it appears to show Alan Henning kneeling beside a militant, dressed in black, in a desert setting.
The footage ends with an ISIS fighter threatening a man they identify as an American.
The UK Foreign Office said in a statement: “We are aware of the video and are working urgently to verify the contents.
Alan Henning was delivering aid to Syria in December 2013 when he was kidnapped then held hostage by ISIS
“If true, this is a further disgusting murder.
“We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time.”
Earlier this week Barbara Henning had asked for “mercy” for her husband, saying his family was continuing their attempts to communicate with the group.
She also she had received an audio message of her husband pleading for his life.
“Muslims across the globe continue to question Islamic State over Alan’s fate,” she said.
Barbara Henning had said some people thought her husband was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she said: “He was in the right place doing the right thing.”
She said her family was “at a loss” as to why ISIS leaders could not “open their hearts and minds to the truth about Alan’s humanitarian motives for going to Syria”.
Last month, two high-profile imams in the UK made a direct appeal to ISIS to release Alan Henning.
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In a recent video, John Cantlie’s father, Paul Cantlie, has appealed for the British hostage release.
Journalist John Cantlie, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 and is being held by Islamic State (ISIS) militants, has so far appeared in three videos.
From hospital, Paul Cantlie said he felt “great relief” seeing his son for the first time in two years, but also experienced “despair and helplessness”.
His family has been trying to deliver an “important message” to ISIS, Paul Cantlie added.
The videos have all followed the same format, with John Cantlie, who is originally from Hampshire, appearing sitting at a desk against a black backdrop to address the camera.
In the most recent, released earlier this week, John Cantlie delivered a scripted message mocking the US strategy of using air strikes combined with local ground forces.
At the end of the five-and-a-half minute film, John Cantlie indicated there will be further messages.
There are no signs of violence in the videos but, in the first, John Cantlie made clear he was speaking as a prisoner whose life was in danger.
Paul Cantlie said: “For the first time in almost two years, we saw John when he made a televised broadcast during which he told viewers that he was still a prisoner of the Islamic State and that maybe he will live and maybe he will die.
“As a family we experienced great relief seeing and hearing John and knowing that he is alive. This was followed by the feeling of despair and helplessness.”
John Cantlie’s father, Paul Cantlie, has appealed for the British hostage release from his hospital bed
Paul Cantlie said when his son was captured in northern Syria while working as a photojournalist, he was “seeking out the true story of the suffering of the Syrian people”.
“John felt a strong need to help in the best way that he could,” he said.
“As an impartial and respected journalist he knew that he could make a difference by acting as a platform for the world to listen to and take notice, using his journalistic skills for the good of the people, as a friend and as a civilian.”
The Cantlie family is trying to communicate with ISIS “to deliver an important message regarding John” but has yet to receive a response, said his father.
In a direct message to the militants, Paul Cantlie said: “To those holding John: please know that he is a good man, he sought only to help the Syrian people and I ask you from all that is sacred, to help us and allow him to return home safely to those he loves and who love him.”
He said his family had received “many messages” of support.
“Speaking entirely for myself, this is not how I had imagined I would be passing my 81st year,” he added.
“I want John to know how very proud I am of him. I can think of no greater joy than seeing my dear son released and allowed to return home to us.”
John Cantlie – an experienced journalist and photographer – has twice been held captive in neighboring Syria.
He was kidnapped in July 2012, and handcuffed and blindfolded for a week, but escaped with the help from the Free Syrian Army.
A second kidnap happened when he returned to Syria towards the end of 2012.
ISIS has taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate.
Since August, the Islamist group has killed three Western hostages – US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines. They have also threatened to kill British hostage Alan Henning.
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ISIS militants have released a third video featuring British hostage John Cantlie.
Journalist John Cantlie delivers a scripted message responding to President Barack Obama’s recent speech on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The script mocks the US’s strategy of employing air power combined with local ground forces.
John Cantlie appears sat at a desk against a black backdrop, following the same format as in previous videos.
The message ends with a comment by him that Islamic State (ISIS) says it welcomes meeting with what is described as President Barack Obama’s under-construction army.
There are no signs of violence in the video but in the first of these messages John Cantlie made clear he was speaking as a prisoner whose life was in danger.
John Cantlie, an experienced journalist and photographer, has twice been held captive in Syria
At the end of the five-and-a-half minute film he indicates there will be further messages.
The video comments on Barack Obama’s speech: “It was all disappointingly predictable; America is good, the Islamic State is bad; and they will be defeated using aircraft and a motley collection of fighters on the ground. For their part the Islamic State say they welcome meeting Obama’s under-construction army.”
John Cantlie, an experienced journalist and photographer, has twice been held captive in Syria.
He was kidnapped in July 2012, and handcuffed and blindfolded for a week, but escaped with the help from the Free Syrian Army.
A second kidnap happened when he returned to Syria towards the end of 2012.
Islamic State – also known as ISIL – has taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate.
Since August, ISIS has filmed and posted online the deaths of three Western hostages who were beheaded.
They were American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.
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ISIS militants have released a second video showing British journalist John Cantlie, who is being held hostage by the jihadist group.
It comes less than a week after John Cantlie’s first appearance on screen following his kidnapping in Syria in 2012.
The release of the video showing John Cantlie comes as the US and its allies launch the first air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
Islamic State has killed three Western hostages and has threatened to kill another.
On September 22, the US and several Arab allies launched the first air strikes against the militants in Syria. UK forces are not involved but the government says it has not ruled itself out.
An experienced journalist and photographer, this is John Cantlie’s second time being held captive in Syria. Having been kidnapped in July 2012 and handcuffed and blindfolded for a week, he escaped with the help from the Free Syrian Army.
John Cantlie returned to Syria towards the end of 2012 and it was during this trip that his second kidnap occurred.
ISIS militants have released a second video showing British journalist John Cantlie, who is being held hostage by the jihadist group
The video, which lasts for almost six minutes, follows a similar pattern to the first video featuring the journalist.
It is introduced with the title Lend Me Your Ears and Messages From The British Detainee John Cantlie: Episode 1.
Dressed in an orange outfit like other ISIS hostages seen in videos, John Cantlie repeated that he had been abandoned by his government.
Reading from a pre-prepared script, John Cantlie also said Western governments “were caught napping by the sheer speed of the Islamic State’s growth” and they have underestimated “the strength and fighting zeal of the opponent”.
“Not since Vietnam have we witnessed such a potential mess in the making,” he says.
Islamic State has taken control of large areas of Syria and Iraq, imposed a harsh brand of Islam, and declared a caliphate.
The group has beheaded three Western hostages since August – US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines. Their deaths were all filmed and posted online.
In the latest video showing the killing of David Haines, the militants threatened to kill Alan Henning, a taxi driver. Alan Henning, from Eccles in Salford, was seized while on an aid mission to Syria in December.
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Barbara Henning, the wife of British taxi driver Alan Henning who is held hostage by Islamic State (ISIS), has pleaded with the militants to “see it in their hearts” to release him.
Alan Henning, 47, was seized while on an aid mission to Syria in December 2013.
In a statement released via the UK’s Foreign Office, Barbara Henning said her husband had been driving an ambulance stocked with food and water at the time.
Barbara Henning said she had sent messages to ISIS but had received no response.
The ISIS militants issued their threat to kill Alan Henning in a video released last Saturday, September 13, which showed the killing of another British man, David Haines.
The full statement released from the Henning family read: “I am Barbara Henning, the wife of Alan Henning.
“Alan was taken prisoner last December and is being held by the Islamic State.
“Alan is a peaceful, selfless man who left his family and his job as a taxi driver in the UK to drive in a convoy all the way to Syria with his Muslim colleagues and friends to help those most in need.
“When he was taken he was driving an ambulance full of food and water to be handed out to anyone in need. His purpose for being there was no more and no less. This was an act of sheer compassion.
The ISIS militants issued their threat to kill Alan Henning in a video released on September 13
“I cannot see how it could assist any state’s cause to allow the world to see a man like Alan dying.
“I have been trying to communicate with the Islamic State and the people holding Alan. I have sent some really important messages but they have not been responded to.
“I pray that the people holding Alan respond to my messages and contact me before it is too late.
“When they hear this message I implore the people of the Islamic State to see it in their hearts to release my husband Alan Henning.”
Alan Henning, nicknamed Gadget by the men he was travelling with, was abducted the day he arrived in Syria to help those affected by the country’s civil war.
In video footage filmed as he stopped en route in Turkey he said “no sacrifice we do is anything compared to what they’re going through every day”.
Barbara Henning’s written appeal comes a day after two high-profile imams in the UK had called for Alan’s release in a video posted on YouTube.
Haitham al-Haddad, an imam from the Islamic Sharia Council, said executing the British hostage would be “totally haram (forbidden), impermissible, prohibited according to sharia for a number of reasons”.
Shakeel Begg, imam at Lewisham Islamic Centre in south London, said he wanted to make it clear he stood “with Alan Henning” and added: “I urge you to understand the nature of this prisoner you are holding – a man of peace.”
The scholars’ appeal to release Alan Henning came after more than 100 British Muslim imam organizations and individuals expressed their “horror and revulsion” at the “senseless murder” of David Haines, and the threats to Alan Henning.
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