CAIRO
A Daesh affiliate in Egypt has threatened to kill a Croatian hostage if authorities do not release female political prisoners in Egyptian jails.
The Wilayet Sinai (Province of Sinai) group released an online video, in which a man in an orange jumpsuit is seen kneeling in the desert before a knife-wielding militant.
The man identified himself as Tomislav Salopek, 30, from Croatia.
Salopek, who works for Ardiseis Egypt, a unit of French firm CGG, which specializes in oil and gas geology, said he was abducted by the Daesh-linked militants on July 22.
“They want to substitute me for the Muslim women arrested in Egyptian prisons,” he said, reading from a note. “This matter has to be achieved before 48 hours from now. If not, the soldiers of Wilayet Sinai will kill me.”
Egyptian authorities have yet to comment on the video, whose authenticity could not be independently verified.
Active in the northern Sinai Peninsula, Wilayet Sinai has claimed most attacks against security forces in the past two years.
