Abductors release 2nd video of Sufiul
A second video clip of a Bangladeshi UN official, reportedly abducted by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, has allegedly been released by the terrorist outfit as "proof of life".
The clip was picked up by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors the online activities of organisations like Al-Qaeda.
AKM Sufiul Anam has been held hostage since February 2022.
The first video clip of Sufiul was released on September 7 last year, where he stated that he was abducted by Al-Qaeda.
In the video picked up by the media yesterday, Sufiul reiterated that he was abducted on February 11, 2022, along with four of his Yemeni staffers.
"Today is the third June, 2023," said Sufiul in the clip. Throughout the video, he was reading out a written script.
"I appeal to the UN secretary-general and our colleagues at work for quick response to the demands made by AQAP [Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] before I face serious and terrible consequences," he read.
"In [sic] my previous appeal, as I was told that there were some serious interruptions in the negotiation process," he said.
"Pressurise the media to deal with those who are interrupting our quick release process and communicate with UN management to expedite the process of our negotiation.
"I want to mention here that while we were abducted, we were abducted as UN staff, not as citizens of any specific country or Asian country."
He said that he was ill and his colleagues needed immediate hospitalisation. "Otherwise, any of us can succumb to the illness."
The demands being made by the terrorist organisation include ransom.
Sufiul works as a field security coordination officer (head) of the UN Department of Safety and Security in Aden, Yemen. He retired from Bangladesh Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2005.
This is the second time his family has seen him since the abduction.
"My mother was inconsolable," Sufiul's son Sakeef Anam told The Daily Star.
The family on March 3 wrote to the prime minister seeking his safe return.
"The United Nations has since been in touch, assuring us of taking actions diligently, given my husband's age and health condition. However, I am confident that your intervention would escalate the issue profoundly and lead to intensifying efforts to safely rescue my husband," Sufiul's wife Kazi Nasreen Anam had written.
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