Islamic State hostage gives tour of Mosul in new video

Islamic State hostage John Cantlie appeared in a new propaganda video released by the jihadist group on Sunday, in a tour of the IS-controlled city of Mosul, where he claims it’s “business as usual.”

In the eight-minute clip, the unnervingly cheery British captive poses as a field reporter in the battered Iraqi city, and attempts to dispel the “misleading” news reports on life in “the heartland of the Caliphate.”

“Media likes to paint a picture of life in the Islamic State as depressed people walking around, subjugated citizens in chains and beaten down by strict totalitarian rule,” Cantlie says. “But really, apart from some rather chilly but very sunny December weather, life here in Mosul is business as usual.”

The British reporter proceeds to tour the city’s marketplace and what he says is a pediatric psychiatric ward in a local hospital. In the marketplace, he says he is “struck by how normal and crazy and busy everything is.” Cantlie is later seen looking up at a jet, presumably one belonging to the US-led alliance against the Islamic State, and shouting: “Useless, absolutely useless!”

The hostage is shown disputing reports in The Guardian and Al-Arabiya on harsh conditions in the Iraqi city, and quotes Wikipedia to buttress claims about Iraqi police’s cowardice.

“This is not a city living in fear, as Western media would have you believe; this is a normal city going about its daily business,” he says.

With regard to the current police force under the Islamic State, Cantlie maintained it seems they are “almost redundant, despite having a very firm presence here in Mosul.”

“There’s really very little crime being committed, from what I can see,” he says.

“Nothing like the police before, who would run at the slightest sign of trouble,” Cantlie adds, while driving a motorcycle with a black-clad jihadi sitting behind him.

The clip concludes with Cantlie touting the large territory controlled by the jihadists, from Kobani to Mosul.

Cantlie has appeared in seven other propaganda videos released by the Islamic State. In several of those clips, he was cast as a Western reporter offering the “truth” about the jihadist group.

Cantlie was captured by IS after coming to Syria in late 2012. He was also previously kidnapped and released by a group of Islamist extremists in Syria in July 2012. Cantlie returned to Syria after his release, reportedly with reporter James Foley, who has since been executed, and has been held captive by IS since.