Islamic State militants have threatened to kill David Haines next. Source: AFP THE daughter of a British hostage threatened with beheading by an Islamic State jihadist said that the family had been told to keep his captivity secret for 19 months. David Haines, 44, was kidnapped while working with a French aid group in northern Syria in March last year. His captivity was made public only on Tuesday evening when Islamic State posted a video of a jihadist with a London accent appearing to behead Steven Sotloff, an American journalist, before warning that Mr Haines would be next. The father of two from Perth was seen trembling as he knelt in the sand while dressed in a Guantanamo Bay-style orange outfit while the masked jihadist clutched a knife. His daughter Bethany, 16, said on Wednesday that the family been told to keep his captivity secret. The teenager lives in Scone, Perth, with her mother, Louise, 43, who is divorced from Mr Haines. She said: “We’ve been told we are not allowed to speak to anyone about my dad. It’s been like that for ages.” Mr Haines married Dragana Prodanovic in Croatia in November 2010 and the couple have a daughter aged four. Mrs Prodanovic Haines, a social media editor, lives in Sisak, Croatia, where her husband worked for a kitchen supply company. Mr Haines was taken captive in March 2013 in a refugee camp in the village of Atmeh in northern Syria while working as a security consultant with the Agency for Technical Co-operation and Development, a Paris-based non-governmental organisation. Federico Motka, 31, the group’s Italian co-ordinator was also taken hostage but was released in May amid rumours that the Italian government had paid a ransom. A close friend of Mr Haines said that the British government was not to blame for refusing to pay a ransom to secure his release. COMMENT: To name or not to name MAP: Foes form awkward alliances against Islamic State Christopher Porritt, who attended Perth Academy with the Mr Haines and his brother, Michael, said: “We all know where Britain and America stand when it comes to not paying for terrorism, so you can’t really blame David Cameron for the situation.” Mr Porritt said the family have had no contact with Mr Haines since he was captured. “The only time they managed to get any information was when one of his fellow captives was released,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything and the family are hurting a lot, We have all known about this from when he was first captured and incarcerated last year. The bottom line is, it’s not easy. “We have been instructed by the Foreign Office not to say anything this whole time. Even though his name and details of his situation are now out on Facebook and across the internet, we still can’t talk about it. “The family are just trying to get through it. The world just heard about it yesterday but they have been living with this for more than a year.” Mr Haines’s brother went to stay with their parents, Herbert and Mary, in Ayr after the release of the video. Mr Porritt said: “They are both elderly and not in good health. I spoke to my father earlier and he is having an incredibly difficult time.” Mr Haines worked in Croatia for five years from 1999 for an organisation helping to identify and rehouse refugees from the country’s civil war. He later worked in security for various organisations before being appointed head of mission in Libya for Handicap International, the British charity, during the civil war in 2011. In 2012 he worked as security manager for Nonviolent Peaceforce, the American group, in South Sudan. theaustralian.au/news/world/islamic-state-family-told-to-keep-captivity-silent-for-19-months/story-fnb64oi6-1227047220377
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 07:00:03 +0000
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