The U.S. White House says it will not negotiate with Al-Qaeda despite a desperate plea to President Obama by an American aid worker being held by the militant group in Pakistan.
In a video released May 6 by the group, 70-year-old Warren Weinstein, who was abducted from Lahore last year, appealed to Obama to “accept and respond to the mujahedin.”
“My life is in your hands, Mr. President,” Weinstein says on the tape. “If you accept the demands, I live, if you don’t accept the demands, then I die.”
The less than 3 minute video was posted on jihadist forums by Al-Qaeda's media arm, al-Sahab, according to the U.S.-based monitoring service, SITE.
On May 7, White House spokesman Jay Carney called for Weinstein’s immediate release but said, "We cannot and will not negotiate with Al-Qaeda."
In a video released May 6 by the group, 70-year-old Warren Weinstein, who was abducted from Lahore last year, appealed to Obama to “accept and respond to the mujahedin.”
“My life is in your hands, Mr. President,” Weinstein says on the tape. “If you accept the demands, I live, if you don’t accept the demands, then I die.”
The less than 3 minute video was posted on jihadist forums by Al-Qaeda's media arm, al-Sahab, according to the U.S.-based monitoring service, SITE.
On May 7, White House spokesman Jay Carney called for Weinstein’s immediate release but said, "We cannot and will not negotiate with Al-Qaeda."
