John Cantlie, the British journalist who has been held hostage by jihadis since 2012, is shown in a new video made by Islamic State.
Cantlie looks noticeably thinner in the video, the first to feature him since one that emerged on 19 March.
Once again, his skills as a journalist have been exploited by Isis in an attempt to lend credibility to propaganda films. On this occasion he discusses the bombing of Mosul University and is filmed by a camera that appears at a later stage to be attached to a drone as it flies over a city landscape strewn with rubble.
Wearing a long shirt and black trousers, he introduces himself before telling viewers that he is standing in front of the remains of the university. “You have to ask yourself: why did the coalition decide to destroy the university?” he says, adding: “Normal, social everyday life has been destroyed and if you are going to destroy a university, why bother?”
The Hampshire-born reporter was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012, during his second visit to report on the country’s war, alongside the US journalist James Foley, who was later killed on camera by Isis.
He has been used to front several films and he writes a column in the Isis magazine Dabiq, in which he veers between attacking and praising his captors.
Cantlie’s father, Paul, died in 2014, after pleading for his son’s freedom. The journalist’s sister, Jessica, has attacked the government’s inability to bring him home.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the video and was “analysing its contents”.
In a video in March, Cantlie also appeared to be in Mosul, and again was shown as if presenting a news report.
He was shown standing by bombed-out shelters near a main road, asking why the US uses planes to destroy kiosks that are used to distribute Isis propaganda pamphlets and cost “about $50 to build”. Addressing the camera as if presenting a television programme, he said: “After 20 months and $5bn, America has successfully destroyed an Islamic State media kiosk.”
