Alan Johnston video released
A video of kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston was released today on the al-Ekhlaas web site (on which I did not find a word that was not in Arabic). Al-Beeb has the video here. While one cannot be sure whether Johnston was speaking willingly when he condemned Israel, the United States and Britain for all of the world's problems, there is nothing in his past to prove that he feels any differently than what he said in the video: Mr Johnston says: "First of all, my captors have treated me very well... They have fed me well, there has been no violence towards me at all and I'm in good health."A full transcript of the video is available here. There is no indication when the video was made.
Mr Johnston, seated and wearing a red sweatshirt, calls for an end to Western sanctions that have been imposed on the Palestinian government.
He talks of the "huge suffering" of the Palestinian people, saying: "Everyday there are Palestinians arrested, imprisoned for no reason. People are killed on a daily basis. The economic suffering is terrible, especially here in Gaza."
He also says the British government is working to occupy Muslim lands against the will of the people there.
Mr Johnston refers to the "failed invasion of Iraq by America and Britain" and the "terrible" situation in Afghanistan.
At the end of the video, Mr Johnston begins a message to his family, saying, "to my family, to my family..." but the audio is then cut off.
A message then says the BBC "refused to take this message to the family".
In response the BBC said it had kept the family informed throughout and the Johnston family statement said relatives had been "fully informed and involved by the BBC since the day Alan was abducted".
The BBC statement read: "This is a highly distressing time for them and for his friends and his colleagues. We repeat our call for his immediate release."
On the tape, the Army of Islam demand the release of Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-born Islamic cleric who is suspected of close links to al-Qaeda and is currently held by the UK government as a threat to national security.
Maybe if Mr. Johnston is released, al-Beeb can consider posting him to Sderot? (It'll never happen...).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:44 PM
2 Comments:
The media are more concerned about the "suffering" of Pseudostinians than about the real suffering of Israelis.
I grow weay of the media's agenda.
I pray that mr johnson is abused, made to embrace allah and in the end is returned broken, mean, and insane..
for all his good works supporting the evil child death cult of the palios he deserves it..
and the good news? let this be an example of those that support the evil of palios.
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