Video Shows Captured BBC Reporter

Journalist Wearing Apparent Explosives Belt Warns It Will Be Detonated If Attempt Is Made To Free Him

(AP)  A video recording released Monday shows kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston wearing an apparent explosives belt of the type suicide bombers use and warning it will be detonated if an attempt is made to free him by force.

The video, about one minute, 42 seconds long, was posted on a Web site that has been used by militant groups in the past. It opens with the title "Alan's Appeal" in both English and Arabic and features the logo of the Army of Islam, a shadowy group that has claimed responsibility for snatching Johnston, a British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent.

"Captors tell me that very promising negotiations were ruined when the Hamas movement and the British government decided to press for a military solution to this kidnapping," Johnston says in the recording, looking nervous and stressed.

"And the situation is now very serious, as you can see."

Johnston is seen wearing a red sweater with a blue and white checked vest strapped around his body — the apparent bomb belt.

"I have been dressed in what is an explosive belt, which the kidnappers say will be detonated if there is an attempt to storm the area," he continues. "They say they are ready to turn the hide-out into what they describe as a death zone if there is an attempt to free me by force."

Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip earlier this month, Hamas leaders have been saying that Johnston's release was imminent. Hamas officials have indicated they know where he is, but have not moved in for fear of harming him.

Mahmoud Zahar, a hardline Hamas leader, said Saturday that Johnston's captors were hesitant to release him, fearing retaliation after he is freed. He said Hamas is trying to convince the group that it would not be targeted if Johnston is handed over, even providing "written guarantees."

Asked more than a week ago whether force could be used to free Johnston, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said all options were open but stressed Hamas wants to resolve the case "in a way that protects the safety and security of the kidnapped journalist."

Johnston was seized from a Gaza street on March 12. His captors have previously said they want a Palestinian militant jailed in Britain to be released in exchange for Johnston.

In the video, Johnston was standing and shaking his head as he spoke. Light entered the room from above, and an Arabic translation was provided on the screen. Nobody else appears in the video.

"I do appeal to the Hamas movement and the British government not, not to, resort to the tactics of force in an effort to end this," he says in a jittery tone.

"I'd ask the BBC and anyone in Britain who wishes me well to support me in that appeal," he says. "It seems the answer is to return to negotiations, which I am told are very close to achieving a deal."

There was no immediate comment from the BBC or the British government about the video.

It was not known when the video was made. Deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas referred to it in a two-hour speech Sunday in Gaza City, but it was not posted to the Web site until early Monday.

The first time Johnston was seen after his abduction was in a video posted on another Web site on June 1. In that tape, the journalist appeared calm and said his captors had treated him well. He also criticized Britain for its role in Israel's creation and blamed British and American troops for the spiraling violence in Iraq.

The Army of Islam is dominated by the Doghmush family, a powerful Gaza clan with its own large militia. Although the group participated in a Hamas-backed operation to kidnap Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit last year, its relations with the militant Muslim group have since soured.

Johnston had reported from Gaza since 2005 and was the only foreign journalist to remain based there after Palestinian infighting erupted last year. There has been a series of kidnappings of foreign journalists in Gaza in the past two years, but Johnston's captivity has been the longest.

[honest_news]

I've been waiting for the standard Hamas/al Aqsa apologists and Israel-bashers to post comments to this story -- either their standard "the Zionists have forced these poor downtrodden people to do this", or the conspiracy theorist favorite that it's all a devious plot by the Mossad, the IDF and the CIA.

But nothing's forthcoming. I guess they've either run out of excuses, or this one's so barbaric and obscene that they haven't been able to rationalize it. Best to lie low, ignore it, and wait until everyone else forgets about it tomorrow.

[hamiltongrad]

Think of it. An innocent reporter taken, hidden, and exposed only to tell the world that his captors have cloaked him in an array of bombs. How barbaric.

My dream would be for all those "decent" Muslims in the UK tomorrow at noon, to rise up, make their signs and protest, but for once for justice, and decency, and DEMAND that this man, this reporter from the BBC be let go, to return to his family, and his country. Will any Muslims so stand up for values related to simple decency ? Just apply the Golden Rule, any school child of 9 knows it, at least in civilized nations.

Tomorrow at noon, London. Muslims please call for this man to be free, to return home, to be let go. Be yourself brave. By doing so, you will show the rest of the world that , yes, there are decent Muslims that deserve our respect - teach your children by example what it means to be free .

[honest_news]

"... if this does not define evil, what does?"

-- Posted by HamiltonGRAD


So true, HG. And length of time we remember these acts of barbarism can be counted not in years or even months, but in the space between commercials on the nightly news.

Instead, we cling to our fantasies of a "poor, downtrodden people" and send them millions of dollars in humanitarian aid which they use to buy more guns and ammunition to kill each other, more rockets to rain down on civilians, and more explosive vests to strap on their hostages and even their own children -- sent to their deaths on an obscene mission to murder other children.

If that does not define evil, what does?

[brianbwb-2009]

to HamiltonGRAD,

"While we in the USA are castigated for relatively minor abuse ( not torture ) of prisoners, the Islamic Nazis pull a stunt like this."

You call the photos of the victims of Abu Ghraib, minor offenses, when a man was "sandwiched" and sat on until he died, prisoners were sodomised, attacked by dogs, boy I'd not wish to see your idea of "major offenses"

Maybe you should enforce your ultimatum yourself. go there and rescue the reporter, and if they blow him up because of your interference, conduct your own revenge.

Talk is cheap, and opinions that contradict facts are worthless.

[hamiltongrad]

While we in the USA are castigated for relatively minor abuse ( not torture ) of prisoners, the Islamic Nazis pull a stunt like this.

Where is the outrage from the likes of the ACLU or the BBC itself ? This poor man was only doing his job in GAZA, an area fully "liberated" as the left and others had demanded, for what result ?

Not only has it become unsafe for any civilized human being from the West, including even reporters from very sympathetic BBC, it has morphed into a terrorist state sending bombs of thanks to Israel for vacating the place.

This can not be ignored. There has to be a world wide protest to let this man free !

What they did to Daniel Perl can not be tolerated again to our brave jounalists.

It is the very intimidation that those opposed to liberty seek, and we as free people must demand his freedom as we defend ours.

It is one thing to hope for the best, but come on, if this does not define evil, what does ?

Tomorrow at noon London time this man must be freed !