Alan Johnston video released on internet

Video footage of kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston has been released on the internet by a group calling itself the Army of Islam.

The video shows Johnston, who has been missing for 12 weeks, from the waist up and wearing a red sweatshirt. He speaks directly to camera saying he is good health and has been treated well and that there had been "no violence" towards him.

He goes on to call for an end to Western sanctions imposed on the Palestinian government, and talks of the "huge suffering" of the Palestinian people. He also says the British government is working to occupy Muslim lands against the will of the people there.

At the end of the video, Johnston begins a message to his family, saying, "to my family, to my family..." but the audio is then stopped. The 45-year-old correspondent was seized by masked gunmen as he returned to his flat in Gaza City on March.

On the tape, the Army of Islam also demands the release of Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-born Islamic cleric who is suspected of close links to al-Qaeda and is currently held by the UK government as a threat to national security. This is the same group that released a video showing Johnston's BBC identity card in early May.

The footage was sent to Palestinian news agency Ramattan. The Foreign Office has said it was urgently looking into the matter.