British Captive John Cantlie Speaks on Experience with Fellow Hostages, Voices Displeasure for U.S, Britain Not Negotiating with IS

In the fifth episode of the Islamic State's (IS) video series "Lend Me Your Ears," British captive John Cantlie discussed his experience with fellow prisoners from America and Europe, including fighters waterboarding them, and the "uncomfortable truth" about the U.S. and Britain not negotiating for their release.

The 6 minute, 30 second video was produced by the IS' al-Furqan Media Foundation, and was distributed on Twitter on October 25, 2014. Cantlie said that the IS began a "long-term" operation to capture Westerners entering Syria in 2013 and then tried negotiating with their home countries for their release. Here, he pointed out that nationals from Denmark, Germany, and Spain were released through negotiations, but the Americans and Britons were "stonewalled" by their respective governments.

Cantlie read selections from alleged emails from prisoners' families and the IS where the families complained about the U.S. government not helping. Cantlie remarked: "Now the recurring elements in these emails is that the U.S. government was simply doing absolutely nothing to help the families involved in this negotiation. The mujahideen told us our governments didn't care about us and we didn't believe them. They told us we were worthless and we didn't believe them. We were told we'd start to die and we didn't believe that either. The human mind has an incredibly tough capacity to self-defense in difficult situations. But it was all true. Our governments had chose not to negotiate with the Islamic State through our families and friends. And while everyone else fulfilled the conditions for release, for us, there was no deal."

The video is available here: