"First of all, my captors have treated me very well. They've fed me well there's been no violence towards me at all and I'm in good health.

"In three years in the Palestinian territories I've witnessed the huge suffering of the Palestinian people and my message is that their suffering is continuing and it is unacceptable. Every day there are Palestinians arrested, imprisoned for no reason. People are killed on a daily basis. The economic suffering is terrible, especially here in Gaza where there's an Israeli (..inaudible).

"People here are in despair after more than 40 years of Israeil occupation which has been supported by the West. The situation in Iraq is even worse - we see every day maybe 100 or more Iraqis being killed in the violence there which followed the failed invasion of Iraq by America and Britain. Ordinary people who are losing everything can't live their lives normally, not just because of the violence, but because of the shortage of everything they need for normal lives, for bringing up their children.

"Afghanistan, the situation, again, terrible. You see on your television screens the suffering as the armies of Britain and America attack. In all this we can see the British Government endlessly working to occupy the Muslim lands against the will of the people in those places.

"In history, the British worked to bring about the State of Israel which is the cause of all the suffering of the Palestinian people and we, the British, are completely to blame, along with the Americans, for the stuation in Iraq. And the British are the main force in Afghanistan causing all the trouble to ordinary simple Afghans, who simply want to live.

"To my family, my family [Mr Johnston's words are cut off and a message appears on the screen in English: “BBC refused to take this message to his family.”]

A few moments later, Mr Johnston's voice is heard again. “My captors say this in order for me to go free, they want ..."

His voice is once again cut off and was replaced by one in Arabic, accompanied by messages on the screen in English, calling for the release of prisoners in the UK. “We want Britain to free our prisoners and specially Sheikh Abu Qatada al-Felestiny,” said the first message, in English.

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