Al-Qaeda has released a video featuring American hostage Warren Weinstein, imploring President Obama and the American government to comply with the demands of the extremists in order to secure his safe release.
According to Weinstein, he will be killed unless their demands are met.
“My life is in your hands, Mr. President,” Weinstein said in the video. “If you accept the demands, I live; if you don’t accept the demands, then I die.”
The 70-year old from Rockville, MD was captured last August in Lahore, Pakistan after armed gunmen dodged his security guards and abducted him. Serving as a Pakistani business advisor for the Virginia based J.E. Austin Associates, Weinstein spent enough time in the volatile country for extremists to thoroughly plan his capture.
The demands that Weinstein are referring to in his video also include demands made in a video posted in December by Al-Qaeda, demanding that the United States are to immediately seize all air-strikes on the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.
In addition to the air-strike demands, they ordered that the U.S. are to release all of the Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects that have been detained around the world in order for Weinstein to be released.
“It’s important you accept the demands and act quickly and don’t delay,” Weinstein said in the video, addressing Obama. “There’ll be no benefit in delaying, it will just make things more difficult for me.”
Speaking directly to the President, Weinstein made a personal plea concerning the man’s daughters, saying that if the U.S. can meet the demands, “then I will live and hopefully rejoin my family and also enjoy my children, my two daughters, like you enjoy your two daughters.”
Below is the video message that Al-Qaeda has released containing Warren Weinstein.