Wife of ISIS hostage Alan Henning gets new audio message

LONDON - The wife of a British aid worker held hostage in Syria by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has received an audio message from him pleading for his life.

Barbara Henning said she has been told that her husband, Alan, had been to a Sharia court, and that he was found innocent of being a spy.

In a statement issued on her behalf by Britain's Foreign Office on Tuesday, she said: "I implore Islamic State (of Iraq and Syria) to abide by the decisions of their own justice system. Please release Alan."

The 47-year-old former taxi driver was kidnapped in December in Syria, shortly after crossing into the country from Turkey in an aid convoy.

Barbara Henning stressed that her husband was working with Muslims to help vulnerable people in Syria.

He appeared in a video released by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also known as ISIL) last week, which showed the murder of another Briton, David Haines, according to Reuters.

It was the third in a series of gruesome execution videos released by the militants.

In it, a masked man said Henning would also be killed if British Primen Minister David Cameron kept supporting the fight against the militants.

ISIS also released last week a propaganda video involving a kidnapped British journalist. In it, John Cantlie, a British journalist who was held and released by jihadists in Syria in 2012, said he is to host a series of forthcoming clips in which he will explain the group's motives and challenge the West's fight against it.

Published online last Thursday and entitled "Lend Me Your Ears," Cantlie appears calm and recites what seems to be a well-rehearsed statement, almost certainly penned by ISIS' tech and PR-savvy media division, saying he will explain in an upcoming series of videos what the group really does and why.

The lines recited by Cantlie also cast blame for his current circumstances at leaders in London and Washington for refusing to negotiate with the group for the release of hostages.

European hostages from other nations have been freed after reported ransoms were paid, but the U.S. government policy is to not negotiate with terror groups.

While the British government has come under pressure to increase his country's military role in the fight against ISIS, it has so far resisted calls to do so.