LeakSourceNews
Published on Dec 26, 2013
In
a videotaped plea to the president, secretary of state, the media and
his family, U.S. government contractor Warren Weinstein is seen urging
the Obama administration to negotiate for his release. He says he feels
"totally abandoned and forgotten," and calls on all Americans to use
social media to mount a campaign to seek his release. Weinstein, 72, of
Rockville, was kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan in 2011. The
video was provided to The Washington Post in an anonymous email on Dec.
25. The Obama administration has said it will not negotiate with
al-Qaeda for Weinstein's release.
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Photo: Screenshot
The State Department is working to authenticate a video showing a US contractor held by al-Qaeda militants in what could the first sign since 2012 that he is alive, The Washington Post reported. In a video message Warren Weinstein who was kidnapped more than two years ago in Pakistan pleaded with President Barack Obama to negotiate his release.
In
the message, Weinstein urges President Barack Obama's administration to
negotiate with the al-Qaeda militants who snatched him in Pakistan more
than two years ago.
"You are now in your second term as
president of the United States and that means that you can take hard
decisions without worrying about reelection," he said in the video.
"I
hope and pray to God that you, as leader of the United States, along
with your administration, will feel an adequate level of responsibility
toward me and work for my release."
He also said that he
came to Pakistan nine years ago to help his government: "I did so at a
time when most Americans would not come here. And now, when I need my
government, it seems I have been totally abandoned."
The
72-year-old development expert called on Obama to renew efforts for his
release and consider freeing unspecified al-Qaeda militants in US
custody so that his captors could allow him to receive a family visit.
The
Pakistani police officer investigating Weinstein's case said that
"everybody [in Pakistan] knows" Weinstein was taken to the
semi-autonomous tribal area near the Afghan border, NBC News reports.
"Weinstein
was beaten and kidnapped when eight to nine kidnappers pretending to be
neighbors entered his house in the early morning in Aug. 2011. They
neutralized his staff and guards in the process. It was all over within a
few minutes," NBC News cites Rana Ghafoor, sub-inspector of Lahore
Police.
If confirmed, the video appeal would be the third by Weinstein since he was taken captive in August 2011.
In
his last video statement, released in September 2012, Weinstein
appealed to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "as one Jew to
another" to help secure his release.
Weinstein had been
working as a consultant for the firm JE Austin Associates Inc, a
contractor for the US Agency for International Development.
The
13-minute video, which the Washington Post said was sent anonymously by
email to several journalists who have reported from Afghanistan, shows a
bearded Warren Weinstein wearing a gray tracksuit and black beanie hat
against a dark background.
It was unclear when the
video was made. It features the yellow logo of al-Qaeda's media unit
As-Sahab. It is not specified when the email was received.
The
video was accompanied by a letter, purportedly handwritten by Weinstein
but also not authenticated, that was dated October 3.
US State Department officials were not immediately available for comment.
Voice of Russia, AFP, NBC News, Washington Post
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