Four months after his abduction by Islamic State militants in Yemen, video clippings of Father Tom Uzhunnalil -- a Catholic priest from Kerala -- surfaced on the Facebook page of the priest on Tuesday. In the clippings, the blind-folded priest was seen getting thrashed by unidentified men in a secret location.
It seems the priest’s Facebook account was hacked by his captors to post his latest images and video. The post carried a small caption, ‘pravachaka sabdam’ (voice of the God). It also claimed that more postings will be done in coming days.
Salesian priest Father Tom was kidnapped during a terror raid on a Missionaries of Charity-run old age home in Aden in Yemen on March 4. At least 16 people including four nuns were killed in the attack. Father was working with the Missionaries of Charity for last two years.
Though there were reports that the priest was crucified by his abductors later news surfaced that he was alive in militants’ custody. A spokesman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India clarified that the priest was alive and efforts were on for his early release. Later Pope Frnacis also made a fervent plea to abductors to release the priest. Two months back External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also said the priest was safe.