UK believes journalist John Cantlie, kidnapped by ISIS, still alive

The United Kingdom's Minister of Security, Ben Wallace, said Tuesday that the British government believes that the British journalist John Cantlie, captured by the Islamic State (ISIS, for its acronym in English) seven years ago, stay alive.

Wallace said the government thinks Cantlie he is alive and remains in the hands of the jihadist group.

This is the first official confirmation by the government that the war photographer would be alive. According to what he reported Telegraph, there were no immediate comments from the Cantlie family on this.

Wallace, who spoke at a meeting with foreign journalists at the Ministry of the Interior, he did not say where they think Cantlie is being held.

He was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 with the American journalist James Foley, who was then beheaded in front of the camera. Cantlie was forced by ISIS to cope with a series of propaganda videos where he spoke in English on camera.

In the first videos, he appeared in an orange jumpsuit, like other Western hostages. In later videos, he wore civilian clothes and acted as a journalist reporting on conditions in the caliphate.

Last appearance in a video on December 2016 and he had no news of his condition for over two years.