IS threatens to execute Croatian abducted in Egypt

The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group threatened Wednesday to execute within 48 hours a Croatian man kidnapped in Egypt last month if “Muslim women jailed in the country” are not freed.

In a video posted online by the IS group, the Croatian, who was working for a French company, appears kneeling at the feet of a hooded man holding a knife.

He reads from a sheet of paper that he will be executed within 48 hours if the Egyptian government fails to release Muslim women held in prisons.

He did not say from when the countdown began.

The hostage said he was abducted on July 22 by the Sinai Province group, IS’s Egyptian affiliate.

He said he works for French company CGG.

The Croatian foreign ministry said the man was kidnapped as he travelled to work in his car.

“The armed group stopped his car, forced the driver out and drove away in an unknown direction,” the ministry said at that time, without elaborating.