Al-Qaeda threatens execution
2004-06-16 09:19
Dubai - An Islamist website on Tuesday carried a statement purportedly from a branch of al-Qaeda threatening to execute an American hostage if its supporters held in Saudi Arabia are not released within 72 hours.
"If the tyrants of the Saudi government want their master, Paul Marshall Johnson, to be released, they must release the mujahedeen held in the prisons in Haer, Ar-Ruwais and Allecha within 72 hours... Otherwise, we will execute him to avenge our Muslim brothers whose blood has been spilled in several parts" of the world, the statement said.
The statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, was signed "al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula".
Johnson, a 49-year-old aeronautics engineer working for top US defence contractor Lockheed Martin, has been missing since Saturday, the same day another American was killed in Riyadh, an attack also claimed by al-Qaeda.
- AFP