Not good news about Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter kidnapped in Gaza more than 3 months ago (via Reuters):

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Sunday that the kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston have made a new video of the abducted journalist wearing what appeared to be explosives around his waist.

Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-led government sacked by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, disclosed the video of Johnston in his first major speech since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip just over a week ago.

"In the past they showed him in an orange uniform. Today they showed him with an explosives belt round his waist," Haniyeh said.

A Palestinian source close to the negotiations confirmed the existence of a new tape showing Johnston wearing an explosives belt. The tape has not been aired publicly but the contents were shared with Haniyeh.

The bomb belt is apparently meant to discourage any rescue attempts. Haniyeh says he was persuaded by the British government not to try a rescue for fear than Johnston would be killed in the process. How much of that is believable is open to debate, but Hamas has their credibility at stake here, since one of the first things they did after their successful coup earlier this month was to announce that Johnston would be free within 24 hours.

While we pray for Alan's safety and swift release, let's remember another Gaza captive who's been held even longer: tomorrow Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit marks the 1-year anniversary of his kidnapping by Hezbollah. May his family be blessed with his return home soon.

Correction: Thanks to Kafir for pointing out that Gilad was kidnapped by the Army of Islam, not Hezbollah, who did however kidnap Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev 3 weeks after the Shalit abduction. Let's keep them in our prayers too.

Posted by: noburqa at 08:29 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 325 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Actually, Shalit was kidnapped by members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of
Palestinian governing party Hamas), the Popular Resistance Committees
(which includes members of Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas), and the
Army of Islam.

And let's not forget Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped by Hizballah 3 weeks after Gilad Shalit's kidnapping, during a cross-border incursion from Lebanon.

Posted by: Kafir at June 24, 2007 07:58 PM (HsmTD)

2 Thanks Kafir, I'll make that correction. And thank you for the reminder about Udi and Eldad.

Posted by: Vicki at June 24, 2007 08:18 PM (iL/Ij)

3 Sadly the Israelis are dead. The muslims are too cowardly to admit it for fear of more attacks from Israel. They hope if they remain silent about it long enough we in the civilized world will forget.

Posted by: Jester at June 24, 2007 10:00 PM (iwtIO)

4 He seems to be sucking it up good, keeping his wits about him.
 Good show ol boy keep it up...G-D willing he'll be home safe soon.

Posted by: Indrid Cold at June 24, 2007 11:26 PM (kxKkl)

5 ^{Jester -
"Sadly the Israelis are dead."}

Gilad Shalit's Voice on Hamas Audio

I'll bet you feel pretty silly now...lol
Let that be a lesson for you:

The fewer declarative statements one makes, the less likely he or she is to look foolish in retrospect.

Posted by: Kafir at June 25, 2007 10:50 AM (HsmTD)

6 It is very important that we don't do anything to insult these people. Calling them assholes and such just alienates the rest of the muslims. 11 Commandant. Thou shalt not call people who would kill others names. Calling them a racial name is far worse than the killing they just did. It just isn't right. It's bigotry, racism. Bigotry and racism is placed higher on the list of bad things  than murder. Fools to the left of me, sissies to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with the neutered. Fight on. Yea right.

Posted by: greyrooster at June 26, 2007 07:27 AM (KtHtq)

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