Viktor Stefan Okonek, a 71-year-old German doctor being held captive by Abu Sayyaf terrorists, on Wednesday said he had been sitting in a "deep hole" with ten other men since Tuesday. Okonek said, "They told me this is my grave. They pushed me inside this hole and I am sitting here with 10 men since [Tuesday night]. I'm here in a hole. It's a big hole 3 meters [by] 5 meters. I hope I will still get out of here … but I have not seen anyone from the government to get into the situation that tries to get us out."
The terrorists have been demanding $7 million for the release of Okonek and a female companion, Henrite Dieter, and for Germany to withdraw support from action against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Rami said his group would execute the doctor at 3 p.m. on Friday if the ransom were been paid by then.
Rami said that Okonek would be buried in the grave if negotiations failed.
Okonek said he was getting very weak because there was not enough food and ten gunmen were watching over him 24 hours a day. In a video provided by the kidnappers, Okonek can be heard crying while being physically abused. Some of the gunmen slapped him.
Rami said local contacts identified with Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima had been trying to negotiate for the release of the captives. But he said the Abu Sayyaf only wanted to talk to representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Gen. Gregorio Catapang, Armed Forces chief of staff, has deployed seven battalions of soldiers and Marines to Sulu and will not pull out the troops from Sulu despite the threat to behead the German hostage by Friday. He said, "We should take them seriously. Our intelligence is on the ground validating information and [trying] to locate them."
Catapang said the military was prepared to conduct rescue operations and was just waiting for the go-signal to launch it as negotiations were being conducted on the local level.