For the first time since he had been abducted in Gaza by Palestinian militants on March 12, a group called the Army of Islam issued on Friday a videotape showing the abducted BBC reporter Alan Johnston alive and sound.

The videotape sent to the Gaza-based local news agency Ramattan showed the BBC reporter Johnston was speaking in English about his experience in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinian people he witnessed over the past several years while several masked militants in black are standing around him.

Clips of the videotape were also e-mail to several journalists, including Xinhua, showed also a photocopy of Alan Johnston's British passport, as well as a message saying "the BBC refused to take this message to his family."

Another message said "My captors treated me very well; they fed me and haven't used violence against me at all and I'm in a good health."

Johnston, the BBC reporter in the Gaza Strip for four years, was wearing a red cotton T-shirt against black background in the video.

Born in 1962 and from Argyllshire, Johnston has been held captive longer than any other journalist kidnapped in the Middle East.

Johnston also called on the British government to help the Palestinians to end the embargo imposed on the Hamas-led government and on the Palestinian people, who severely suffered as a result of it.

Johnston spoke on the videotape for several minutes, then a masked man in black spoke in Arabic calling for the release of Abu Qutada, an Islamist, originally from the West Bank, from British Jail.

Source: Xinhua