World | John Cantlie Father of ISIS Hostage Dies Paul Cantlie had made appeal for release of son John By John Johnson Posted Oct 22, 2014 2:13 PM CDT Copied In this Nov. 11, 2012 photo, freelance British photojournalist John Cantlie poses next to a Syrian rebel fighter's vehicle in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo) Paul Cantlie made an impassioned plea from his hospital bed for his son's life earlier this month, but he died not knowing whether it worked. The 80-year-old is dead from complications of pneumonia, reports the BBC. His son, John Cantlie, is a British journalist who has been held captive by ISIS militants for two years, notes the Guardian. The younger Cantlie has appeared in ISIS propaganda videos in which he is critical of the West—but in the first one he makes clear that his life is at risk. "Many in the country will recall the recent broadcast from his [Paul's] hospital bed, when so demonstrably ill, but determined that his journalist son John should hear from his father 'how very proud I am of him,'" the family said in a statement. Read These Next Colbert tells audience it's curtains for his Late Show. This is why you don't wear metal in MRI rooms. Senate claws back aid to public broadcasting. A lost mom and son used handwritten notes to get rescued. Report an error