John Cantlie is a British war photographer and correspondent who was kidnapped by British Islamic extremists while crossing into Syria on July 19, 2012, near Bab al Hawa.
As of 2014 Cantlie’s whereabouts are unknown. He has not appeared in print or on social media since late 2012 and the trial against one of his alleged captors collapsed in 2013 when he could not be summoned as a witness. His website Fastfeatures.com is a dead link.
Today John Cantlie was filmed in captivity in a video released by Isis and titled “Lend me your ears”.
Here’s the video…
Lend Me Your Ears—
John Cantlie – Lend Me Your Ears by 5ilafaa
(Update: YouTube deleted the original video – The video was also posted on Daily Motion)
The Metro describes the shocking clip:
In the haunting video, John Cantlie, a former war photographer and correspondent for The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sunday Telegraph, speaks to the camera from behind a table in a darkened room,
The shocking clip shows Mr Cantlie saying he was ‘abandoned’ by the British government and describes how, in a series of videos, he will seek to dispel ‘manipulated truths’ told by the Western media.
‘I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking ‘he’s only doing this because he’s a prisoner – he’s got a gun at his head and he’s being forced to do this,” he says.
‘Well, I am a prisoner – that I cannot deny – but seeing as I’ve been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose.’
ISIS mocked Cantlie and the West after the video release:
Now this is what we call honour.Our Dawlah humiliates the britishers while their government can do nothing! pic.twitter.com/uwHxWO1XFz
— أبو رمزي الشامي (@greenbird7072) September 18, 2014