John Cantlie - Sonic from Fast Bikes

[Timothy Bucktu]

I rarely visit these parts since becoming a fair weather rider...but this thread popped onto my head, and bugger me...it's on the first page.
Shame there's no news or closure still.

[Salted_Peanut]

Today's Times newspaper has a 'long read' article on John Cantlie: What happened to John Cantlie? My hunt for the forgotten Isis hostage

The Times said:

By rights, the British journalist’s name should be fresh in public consciousness after the conclusion in April of the trials in America of two London men, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were once part of the infamous Islamic State cell nicknamed “the Beatles” by Cantlie, whom they tortured and brutalised in Syria along with his fellow hostages. Kotey, 38, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a US court having pleaded guilty to eight charges relating to the abduction, torture and beheading of Isis hostages in Syria. Elsheikh, 33, was also found guilty and will be sentenced in August. The third member of the cell, Mohammed Emwazi, the multiple murderer better known as “Jihadi John”, was killed by a coalition drone strike in Raqqa in the autumn of 2015.

Yet barely a backward glance has been given to the fate of the British journalist who was the longest surviving of the seven British and American hostages who fell into Islamic State’s hands, and whose lone fate remains shrouded in mystery.

[BikeBikeBIke]

https://youtu.be/gKLwV3Mj70Y


TL;DR: 99.99pc sure he Died in an airstrike in Mosul when it was surrounded. The place he was staying was obliterated and the place he would have been moved to was also obliterated. He was never seen after Mosul.


I'm quite pleased to know, a bit of closure.

[carinaman]

Just chanced upon this while looking for something else. Unlikely be news, just an article about trying to find him:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/my-search-for-j...

[five50]

The Times article (behind the paywall) doesn’t provide further info re Cantlie’s fate, but is written by a journalist who had close experience of him in Syria and others who were captured by ISiS. It also questions Govt policy and talks about the weakness of the Foreign Office in dealing with this.
It seems that Cantlie had a lot to deal with (to put it mildly) and was the last of the various US / UK hostages held by the ISIS ‘Beatles’ to survive.

The journalist has done a podcast available across multiple platforms - Last Man Standing (Spotify link here):

https://open.spotify.com/show/75APf1v7jwDRH2UJHvuS...

[blueST]

I think sadly all hope is now lost. John’s family have held a funeral and the FB page for info on him has been closed at their request. The BBC have run this short piece this morning.

John Cantlie: Ten years since IS kidnap of British journalist in Syria https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63711446

[FWIW]

blueST said:

I think sadly all hope is now lost. John’s family have held a funeral and the FB page for info on him has been closed at their request. The BBC have run this short piece this morning.

John Cantlie: Ten years since IS kidnap of British journalist in Syria https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63711446

Probably a few years too late, but RIP Sonic.

[Kawasicki]

RIP

[PurpleTurtle]

Sad indeed, but I've long thought he's a goner too.

I guess it might be some small mercy if that article were true, that he has died as a result of US bombing of Mosul, as opposed to his tormentors having the satisfaction of executing him.

Either way, pretty grim.

[chris4652009]

Sorry if already mentioned but this is well worth a listen if haven’t already https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/last-man-sta...