U.S. hostage makes video plea to Obama

• Tweet

KARACHI, Pakistan, May 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. citizen kidnapped in Pakistan in August says he will be killed by his al-Qaida captors if President Obama does not meet their demands.

A video released on several Islamic Web sites shows Warren Weinstein, a 70-year-old development consultant, asking the president to quickly meet eight demands related to issues in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, CNN reported Monday.

"My life is in your hands, Mr. President," Weinstein said in the video. "If you accept the demands, I live. If you don't accept the demands, then I die."

The demands, which include the release of all prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the release of terrorists convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, were made by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, CNN said.

Weinstein was working for J.E. Austin Associates Inc., a consulting firm based in Arlington, Va., when he was kidnapped at his home in Lahore, Pakistan.