Up until the horrific beheading last week of American journalist James Foley, we mostly had no idea that Westerners were being held hostage in Syria. We also had no idea who or what ISIS even is.
Theterrorist organisationhas been making quite a name for itself since it released the extremely graphic video of the murder, during which they also revealed they’re holding the American journalist Steven Sotloff hostage.
The general rule with hostages is that the situation is kept very hush-hush in order to (hopefully) maintain the safety of the hostage while authorities in the US/UK/wherever try to secure their release, so the recent news involving a third American hostage is pretty thin in detail.
What we do know is that the woman is a 26-year-old aid worker who was captured in Syria last year; her family don’t want her identity revealed, primarily to attempt to preserve her life with the hope that she will make it back alive. ISIS is demanding $6.6 million in exchange for the woman, and also wants Aafia Siddiqui released. She’s a neuroscientist who was convicted in 2010 of attempted murder of two US officials.
Siddiqui’s family are not feeling this demand whatsoever. They are reportedlyvery upset that Aafia’s name is being dragged into the whole ISIS mess, and have written to the terrorist group to let them know they don’t want anyone hurt.
A spokesperson for the fanily, Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation, said in a press conference:
‘They’re opposed to it. In their letter to ISIS they made it very clear, this is not the way, these are not the conditions under which we want our loved ones released, Nor did they want harm to come to anyone else’s loved one in the name of Aafia… They conveyed that message loud and clear,’ he said. ‘It is not only not the inappropriate way to go, but, properly understood, it is a violation of the tenets of the faith that we claim to believe in. We just have to do the right thing because it is the right thing, without any strings attached.. And the right thing would be to let this young woman go back to her family, go back to her life. And the right thing for America to do, for our government… would be to do the same with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.’
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.