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A US development worker kidnapped in Pakistan by Al Qaeda two years ago appealed to President Barack Obama to intervene and help negotiate his release, in a video released yesterday.
In a 13-minute clip issued by Al Qaeda’s media wing al-Sahab and posted on several news websites, Warren Weinstein, 72, looked gaunt and tired. Al-Sahab also released an accompanying handwritten letter.
“I am not in good health. I have a heart condition. I suffer from acute asthma... Needless to say I’ve been suffering deep anxiety every part of every day,” he said.
“Mr President, for the majority of my adult life, for over 30 years I’ve served my country ... Now when I need my government it seems that I have been totally abandoned and forgotten.”
The video could not be independently verified.
Weinstein, an employee of Virginia-based consulting firm JE Austin and Associates that runs development projects for USAID, was kidnapped from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on August 13, 2011.
“You are now in your second term as president of the US and that means that you can take hard decisions without worrying about re-election,” Weinstein said.
In a similar video appeal in September 2012, Weinstein sought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s help for his safe release, complaining that the US government had “showed no interest” in his case.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claimed responsibility for the abduction and had issued a set of demands, including the end of military strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere and the release of terrorism suspects in US custody.
“The years have taken their toll,” Weinstein said in the video.
Weinstein is among half a dozen high-profile figures kidnapped by Al Qaeda in Pakistan including a German citizen and son of former prime minster Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Pakistani intelligence officials believe all these hostages are being kept in tribal regions near the Afghan border that are under the control of Islamist militants.
Pakistan’s tribal areas on its border with Afghanistan serve as safe havens for Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups, and the Islamabad government has been under pressure from the US to do more to eliminate the insurgency.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported yesterday that the State Department is working to authenticate the video.
It was unclear when the video was made. The Post also did not specify when the email was received.
US State Department officials were not immediately available for comment.
