Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said Thursday his intelligence officials had information that BBC journalist Alan Johnston, kidnapped more than a month ago in Gaza, was "still alive.""I believe he is still alive. Our intelligence services have confirmed to me that he is alive," Abbas told reporters during a visit to Stockholm, saying he had received the information "in the last three days." Abbas said he wanted to secure Johnston's release.
"I want him to be released unharmed and safe without psychological or physical harm," he stressed. Last Sunday, an Islamist group claimed it had killed Johnston, one of the few Western reporters to have both lived and worked in the territory.
The Palestinian government has said that so far there was no proof of the death claim by the little-known group, Kataeb al-Jihad al-Tawheed (The Brigades of Holy War and Unity). Abbas said Palestinian officials knew of the group but had had no contact with them.
"We know those people and we want Johnston safe ... The less we say about it, (the better) it will be for our benefit and for Alan Johnston's benefit," he said. "This does not mean that we have any contact with the abductors. What I am saying is based on our intelligence-gathering services."
Abbas was in Stockholm on Thursday as part of a European tour aimed at convincing EU countries to lift a year-long suspension of direct aid to the Hamas-led government.