BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been killed by an al-Qaeda affilated Palestinian organization, according to an internet statement obtained by Ynetnews. The statement was signed by the Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades, an organization named after an Iraqi al-Qaeda group.
Responding to the statement, the BBC said it is "aware of these reports -- but we have no independent verification of them. We are deeply concerned about what we are hearing -- but we stress, at this stage, it is rumour with no independent verification."In the message, the group said the British and Palestinian governments were responsible for Johnston's killing, and vowed to release a video of the execution.
"The whole world knows of our just cause in demanding the release of our prisoners, who are waiting under the fire of the occupation," the statement began. "Our demand was that all of those who are responsible for the journalist... release our prisoners who are being held in the prisons of the occupation," it continued.
"The whole world made so much noise about this foreign journalist, while it took no action over our thousands of prisoners," the declaration said. "Our objective was to broadcast a clear message, and we were surprised by the position of the Palestinian Authority, which attempted to hide the case as much as it could and to present the case in an untruthful manner, leading us unfortunately to kill the journalist so that our message is understood," the declaration continued. "We will disseminate a video in which we show his killing soon to the media outlets," the statement said.
"And we lay the responsibility on the the PA presidency, Palestinian government, and the British government for the blood of the its journalist son. And we confirm that our demands for the release of our prisoners in the occupation jails still stands. We will not relent until we release them all, free and dignified," the message added.
Meanwhile the Abductor General of the Palestinian Authority meets with BBC Director to reassure him that he has “credible evidence” that Alan Johnston is alive and well.
So you got to ask yourself why doesn’t the Abductor General just send in the security forces to extract him? I mean, really how big is the Gaza Strip? He can’t be that hard to find for PA security forces. It’s what the FBI, Scotland Yard or the RCMP would do, but no can do in the PA - not when the name of the game is extortion.
3 comments:
The BBC would be thrilled to have one of their own martyred for 'the cause', it will give them 'street cred' in the middle east and a big high horsey from which to lecture Westerners about their evil ways.
Too cynical a view? Hardly. If true their 'solemn' newscasts will milk this for all it's worth and more - they'll stop just short of making it patently obvious that this works for them. They are a nasty bunch.
Michael, Pali-logic - great metaphor, you nailed it.
What analogy? These people are behaving like toddler, but with guns.
Maybe if we treated them like they show they deserve to be treated, there'd be fewer problems in the world.
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