Video of Alan Johnston released
You can watch it here. A full transcript of Alan's message is here. At the end of the video, an unidentified man speaking in Arabic states this demand:
We want Britain to free our prisoners and we specify Sheikh Abu Qatada al-Filistini, and at this position we won't forget our prisoners in the other infidel states and we say to them, free our prisoners or we will deal with you the same. We don't specify a state without the others. And we say if you want the ransom to free them we will give you to the last piece of gold as the Prophet, peace be upon him, told us to do.
Comments
One has to wonder now if the petition etc. was such a great idea. It seems to have merely increased Johnston's value as a bargaining chip. At least he's alive.
We know Alan Johnston is alive but their captors must release him.
"The state of Israel (which) is the cause of all the suffering of the Palestinian people."
"The British are the main force in Afghanistan causing all the trouble to ordinary simple Afghans who simply want to live."
We'll see if Johnston disavows these statements subsequent to his release. Normally I would expect him to have been an unwilling hostage just as many others held by Iran and by various Palestinian clans were but BBC felt that even though they and he knew that he might be kidnapped it was worth the risk. I've argued with BBC management about this pointing out that everyone knows the Palestinians suffer but it's an old story already and there are many people such as those in Darfur where suffering is far greater but BBC doesn't have a resident reporter living among them. IMO, BBC expected that were he to be kidnapped, he would be released quickly because as so many including his family have said, "he is a friend to the Palestinian people" which begs the question what is he doing there in the first place as a biased individual? Clearly they misjudged the risks and the consequences of not taking him out earlier.
BBC has demonstrated its political bias again and again in its reporting especially on issues regarding Israel, the middle east, Islam, and America. As an example, in its reporting of the events leading to the invasion of Somalia by Ethopian troops supported by the temporary Somali government which took back control of the country from the Islamic Courts Union, BBC conducted a very sympathetic interview with the Taleban-like, Al Qaeda backed ICU leaders while questioning the legitimacy of both the Ethopians who felt threatened and the temporary Somali government to invade. BBC took it upon itself to decide that a Taleban-like regime was preferable to the anarchy and warlords they have instead. Many people on my side of the pond who follow BBC do not consider it a fair and unbiased reporter of the news.