Islamic State Releases New Propaganda Video Featuring British Hostage

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Islamic State (ISIL) have posted a new propaganda video on-line, featuring a kidnapped British photojournalist.

John Cantlie, who has been held hostage for over two years, describes “advance and stretch” of the insurgent group as “remarkable and breathtaking”. In the documentary-style video, the hostage reports on topics including education, drone strikes and sharia law.

The sharia law is “remarkably simple,” Cantlie says in the video. “For example, if you are convicted of robbery with the correct number of witnesses and such forth, you have your hand cut off. Sounds harsh but you’re not going to commit the same crime again and it will dissuade others from doing the same,” the hostage clarifies.

The hostage, who appears to be well in the video, interviews a French member of the ISIL, who states that last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris “only made us happy.”

The Islamic State is a jihadist group that has seized large areas in Iraq and Syria and proclaimed Islamic caliphate on areas under its control. The insurgents have repeatedly taken journalists, aid workers and civilians hostage, many of whom have been executed on camera.