An American aid worker abducted by al Qaeda in Pakistan last year has pleaded with US President Barack Obama to meet his captors’ demands for the release of prisoners in order to save his life, in a video released by the militant group’s media arm.
The SITE monitoring service, which follows al Qaeda’s statements, quoted Warren Weinstein, who was kidnapped in Lahore last August, appealing to Obama to “accept and respond to the mujahideen”. “My life is in your hands, Mr. President. If you accept the demands, I live; if you don’t accept the demands, then I die,” it quoted Weinstein as saying in the video, which was posted on Islamist websites on Sunday.
Dressed in a traditional Pakistani tunic and speaking impassively in English, he also tells his wife Elaine that “I’m fine, I’m well, I’m getting all my medications, I’m being taken care of”. However, the White House said it would not negotiate with al Qaeda over the fate of the elderly US aid worker. “We cannot and will not negotiate with al Qaeda,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, adding that officials were greatly concerned for the safety of the aid worker Warren Weinstein, and were working to find him. There was no response from the US embassy in Islamabad. Pakistani security officials said they were not immediately aware of the video but believe Weinstein is being held by al Qaeda and local Taliban near the Afghan border. Weinstein, 70, suffers from asthma, heart problems and high blood pressure.
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in December claimed that the group was holding Weinstein, but at the time provided no proof. Zawahiri demanded that Washington end air strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and release the 1993 World Trade Centre bombers along with relatives of Osama bin Laden.
