LONDON: The wife of the British taxi driver being held hostage by the ISIS has issued a plea for his release. Alan Henning from Eccles in Salford was seized while on an aid mission to Syria last December while driving an ambulance.

In a statement released via Britain’s foreign office, she said, “I am Barbara Henning the wife of Alan Henning. Alan was taken prisoner last December and is being held by the ISIS. Alan is a peaceful, selfless man who left his family and his job as a taxi driver in the UK to drive in a convoy all the way to Syria with his Muslim colleagues and friends to help those most in need. When he was taken he was driving an ambulance full of food and water to be handed out to anyone in need.”

Barbara added, “His purpose for being there was no more and no less. This was an act of sheer compassion. I cannot see how it could assist any state’s cause to allow the world to see a man like Alan dying. I have been trying to communicate with the ISIS and the people holding Alan. I have sent some really important messages but they have not been responded to.”

The militants had issued their threat to kill the 47-year-old in a video released last Saturday which showed the killing of another British man David Haines. Alan was considering converting to Islam before he was kidnapped, according to a friend quoted by the Sunday Times.