May 09, 2007

Videotape Released by Kidnappers of Alan Johnston

Click here to see the BBC report on the Johnston videotape

The kidnappers of BBC reporter Alan Johnston released a video to Al-Jazeera TV Wednesday, showing the journalist's press card and stating the group's demands publically for the first time.

The group calling itself Jaish-eal-Islam (The Army of Islam) is demanding the release of preacher Abu Qatada, who is being held in Britain prior to deportation to his native Jordan.

Outspoken Muslim cleric Qatada, 45, is known as Osama Bin Laden's "right-hand man" in Europe though he denies ever meeting the terror leader.

He is said to have had links with shoe bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, the "20th hijacker" in the 9/11 atrocities.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled in February that Qatada could be deported to Jordan, despite protests from his lawyers that he would face beatings and an unfair trial.

The Army of Islam is also one of the three groups responsible for the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit at the Gaza border last summer, sparking the Israel-Lebanon war.

A group calling itself The Battalions of Jihad and Tawheed in Palestine claimed last month that it executed Johnston, but that claim has never been verified. British authorities are studying this tape, but have not made any comment yet.

By at 08:49 AM | |