The father of British photojournalist John Cantlie has died, a fortnight after making a impassioned appeal to Islamic State militants to release his son, the family said on Wednesday.
Paul Cantlie died on Thursday aged 80 from “complications following pneumonia”, the family said in a statement.
A retired naval architect, Paul had earlier this month recorded a video plea from his hospital bed for IS to release his son.
John Cantlie’s sister Jessica last week begged IS to make contact, saying that previous communication with the group had broken down.
It noted that efforts had been made to reach John Cantlie to tell him of his father’s death before making it public.
The 43-year-old journalist has worked for publications including The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph newspapers, as well as Agence France-Presse.
Kidnapped in Syria in 2012, Cantlie has recently appeared in a series of propaganda videos released by the extremist group, in which he wears an orange jumpsuit and reads a script criticising Western governments.
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