Defecting jihadist reveals plan to negotiate with Vatican

A  defecting Syrian jihadist has revealed a failed plan to deliver to the Vatican a video proving the hostage Italian Jesuit Fr Paolo Dall’Oglio may still be alive.

The Paris daily Le Monde reported a man named Saleh A. turned himself in to French police in February and said he belonged to a sleeper cell in Germany plotting an attack in Dusseldorf. Saleh A., 28, said he was told to go to the Vatican with an accomplice, Hamza C., to hand over a video showing that Fr Dall’Oglio, who was kidnapped in the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa in July 2013, was still alive.

But when the operation was about to begin, he turned himself in and revealed the Dusseldorf plot, which led German police to arrest Hamza C., 27, and two other jihadists last week. Le Monde said Saleh A. first heard of the Vatican plot in early 2014 and did not say if the video to be delivered was made then or later. It was also not clear what IS would demand in return. Saleh A. said Hamza C. secretly wanted to use the video to bargain for asylum in Italy.

The Vatican said it has no information on the plot or Fr Dall’Oglio, who has been reported to have been murdered by IS.