ISIS Propaganda Video 2014: John Cantlie Says Hostages Were Waterboarded

In the newest video featuring British photojournalist John Cantlie, the Islamic State hostage explained captives were waterboarded if they tried to escape from the group also known as ISIS, the Guardian reported. Cantlie, 43, explained what happened to the captives in the fifth episode of “Lend Me Your Ears.”

In the six-minute footage, which is apparently scripted, Cantlie, who has been held for more than two years, says: “Now, unless we tried something stupid like escaping or doing something we shouldn’t, we were treated well by the Islamic State. Some of us who tried to escape were waterboarded by our captors, as Muslim prisoners are waterboarded by their American captors.”

Sitting behind a desk and wearing an orange jumpsuit, he also reads emails purportedly exchanged between ISIS and the families of American hostages, who reportedly expressed grief about the U.S. government refusing to negotiate with the terrorists.

“We have begged them so many times already,” an email from July 17 reportedly reads. “Everyone has buried their heads in the sand.

“We feel we are caught in the middle between you and the U.S. government, and we are being punished.”

The video was released shortly after his father, Paul Cantlie, 80, died of complications from pneumonia, the Guardian said.

The deaths of hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Cawthorne Haines and Alan Henning were gruesome and public, but until recently, not much was known about what happened during their captivity.

Hostages were given a “teacup” amount of food per day and Foley, who apparently had it worse than many other hostages, was repeatedly waterboarded, the New York Times reported.

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