The family of captured aid worker Warren Weinstein said that they had paid a ransom to al Qaeda for his release, CNN reported. Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto were accidentally killed by an American drone on Thursday, the Inquisitr reported.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs talked about Weinstein in a statement.
“The death of Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Lo Porto in a drone strike demonstrates the risk and unintended consequences of the use of this technology that Pakistan has been highlighting for a long time.”
Weinstein was taken hostage in 2011 from the Pakistani city of Lahore. In 2012, a ransom of $250,000 was paid to al Qaeda from Weinstein’s family, but he was not released, CBS reported. The ransom demand was paid to Weinstein’s captors through an intermediary in June, 2012.
The intermediary for the family talked about Weinstein’s captors.
“They kept him well and spent a lot of money to keep him alive on medicine for the heart. Otherwise, he would have been dead long ago.”
Weinstein’s family had been seeking advice on how to handle a ransom demand.
“Over the three and a half year period of Warren’s captivity the family made every effort to engage with those holding him or those with the power to find and rescue him… This is an ordinary American family and they’re nor familiar with how one manages a kidnapping.”
Weinstein’s family have been struggling ever since his capture to have him released. Elaine Weinstein wrote about what the family went through and chastised those who failed to bring Warren home safe.
“I am disappointed in the government and military in Pakistan. Warren’s safe return should have been a priority for them, based on his contributions to their country, but they failed to take action earlier in his captivity when opportunity presented itself, instead treating Warren’s captivity as more of an annoyance than a priority. I hope the nature of our future relationship with Pakistan is reflective of how they prioritize situations such as these.”
President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he took responsibility for the deaths of Weinstein and Lo Porto. Lo Porto had been captured in 2012. The United States, though, has a policy against paying ransoms to terror groups.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest explained the U.S. policy.
“It is the policy of the United States government not to make concessions or pay ransom to terrorist who are holding hostages,”
Weinstein was from Rockville, Maryland, and was a tenured professor of political science at State University of New York at Oswego in the 1970s. Weinstein later worked with the U.S. Agency of International Development. Afterward, Weinstein became the country director in Pakistan for J.E. Austin Associates, a U.S. government development contractor.
Weinstein was 73-years-old.
[Photo: Twitter]