The media arm of Isis (Islamic State) released a new video today showing captive British journalist John Cantlie in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
It is the 12th video he has been featured in since mid-2014. Cantlie was kidnapped alongside American journalist James Foley in 2012 in Syria.
In the three-minute video, Cantlie stands in front of the near-pulverised remains of Mosul University, which the US military bombed in March on intelligence that it was being used as a headquarters by Isis. A video released by the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria that shows the airstrike can be seen below.
Cantlie discusses the airstrike in the video, and, as in his earlier videos, is put forth as a prototypical presenter in a style seemingly modelled on documentary films. He espouses a pro-Isis agenda, mocking the logic of bombing the university. The sound of the drone used for filming the video buzzes in the background.
"Mosul University was the finest and biggest university in all of Iraq. Now if it was a military hub or if it was a weapons cache or if it was being used as a training ground by the mujahideen, perhaps you could understand," says a noticeably gaunt Cantlie. "But it was simply Mosul's and in fact Iraq's finest university, now reduced to a huge pile of rubble."