Kidnapped Swiss couple appear in new video in Pakistan

Oct 26, 2011 |

Islamabad

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A Swiss couple, held hostage by the Taliban for the last four months, have appeared in a new video, appealing to the governments of Pakistan, Switzerland and the US to respond to their captors' demand or "our lives are at risk".

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has released two videos of the kidnapped Swiss couple, the Express Tribune reported quoting swissinfo.ch today. Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 28, appear in the video flanked by armed masked men.

The TTP has earlier demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a female neuro-scientist sentenced in 2010 for terrorism, to set the Swiss couple free.

The videos show the couple calling upon the governments of Switzerland, the US and Pakistan to meet the captors' demands, the paper said. In the video, one of the hostages is seen saying "our lives are at risk" if the demands are not met, it said. The two were abducted by unidentified gunmen in Loralai in Balochistan on July 1.

"We call upon the Western world to put pressure on America for the release of Aafia Siddiqui," TTP deputy chief Waliur Rehman had said. "If America does not agree to her release then our shura (council) will take a decision about the Swiss hostages," he said earlier.

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