John Henry Cantlie (born 7 November 1970) was a British[2][3] war photographer and correspondent last seen alive in 2016 when he was held hostage by Islamic State.

[4] Previously, he had been kidnapped in Syria alongside Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans in July 2012, but was rescued a week later.

[5] Between 2014 and 2016, while held in IS captivity, Cantlie repeatedly appeared narrating a series of their propaganda videos from Syria and Iraq.

In 1896, he was instrumental in the protection of the Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen who might otherwise have been executed by the Qing dynasty secret service.

[18][19][20] Cantlie was reportedly kidnapped by fighters while crossing illegally into Syria from Turkey on 19 July 2012, near Bab al-Hawa.

[32] The rebels came into the camp shooting their weapons and held at least one jihadist fighter at gunpoint while Cantlie and Oerlemans were helped into a waiting vehicle.

They had lost all their camera equipment, passports and clothes in the incident, and were smuggled back across the border at a crossing used primarily by Syrian refugees.

On 9 October 2012, an individual suspected of being involved in the kidnapping was arrested at Heathrow Airport, after arriving on a flight from Egypt.

[41] After disappearing for almost two years following his second abduction in late 2012, Cantlie resurfaced on 18 September 2014 in a video[42] posted by IS in the first episode of a multi-part series entitled Lend Me Your Ears.

In the videos, Cantlie adopts a critical position toward Western foreign policy, including military actions, political statements, and media coverage.

In all videos, Cantlie describes the situation in Kobani, Mosul and IS-controlled parts of the Aleppo Province in a manner favourable to his captors.

[8] In January 2019, an official of the Syrian Democratic Forces stated Cantlie may still be alive inside Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria.