RIYADH
(IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The family of an American
engineer held hostage in Saudi Arabia pleaded for his life as a
deadline set by his kidnappers loomed Friday, June 18, with Saudi
police stepping up their search for the victim.
A
video from a group calling itself the "Al-Qaeda Organization in
the Arabian Peninsula" appeared on a website Tuesday, June 15,
saying it will execute Paul Marshal Johnson, kidnapped last week,
unless the Saudi government releases jailed militants.
It
has not said at what exact time the deadline expires.
Saudi officials
insist the kingdom will not give in to the group's demands, Reuters
reported.
Family
Pleas
"Please
release my father. He is an innocent man. He loves Muslims. Saudi
Arabia was his home," Johnson's son Paul told Dubai-based
Al-Arabiya television from the United States.
In
an interview with NBC's "Today" show Thursday, the brother
urged the Saudi and American governments to cut a deal with the
kidnappers. His sister, Donna Mayeux, also said she supported the idea
of negotiations.
"I
just want to ask the President of the United States and the Saudi
officials to please make this happen... Bring my father home for
Father's Day," a visibly distraught Johnson said. "The
Saudis owe it to him to bring him home alive."
Johnson's
Thai wife Thanom weighed in, urging US authorities to save her
husband.
"When
I see pictures of my husband, I hurt so much, I fall to the
floor," she was quoted by Reuters as saying in broken English.
"He
is sick man, he need medicine. He hasn't done anything wrong."
Johnson's
kidnapping, which follows a spate of bombing attacks and shootings in
the past six weeks, raised the stakes of driving Westerners out of the
world's largest oil exporter.
No
Compromise
Washington
said it would use every appropriate resource to gain Johnson's release
but would make no concessions to his captors.
Saudi
Crown Prince Abdullah, showing no sign of compromise, said the kingdom
would deploy more forces and strike soon against the militant
kidnappers.
Saudi
security forces searched several Riyadh neighborhoods Thursday and
Friday, but there was no indication any arrests had been made.
Johnson,
an employee of US defense contractor Lockheed Martin, is the first
Westerner to be kidnapped in a wave of militant attacks in the kingdom
that began more than a year ago.
The
militants claim they carry out such attacks and
kidnappings to avenge the US abuse of Muslim prisoners.
Earlier this
week, the captors released a video on a Web site showing a blindfolded
Johnson.
"If
the tyrants in the Saudi government want to secure the release of the
American hostage, they must release our mujahideen held hostage in its
jails. They have 72 hours from today (Tuesday) or else we will
sacrifice him," they said.
