ISLAMIC State hostage John Cantlie, a freelance journalist was seen alive for the first time since February 2015 in a propaganda video released on Saturday, in which he mocked President Obama.

The video is believed to have been taken in Mosul, northern Iraq. Filmed in daylight, Mr Cantlie, who lived in Haslemere beforeheading off to the Middle East, is standing beside a road busy with traffic with people walking by in the background and speaks as if he is presenting a television programme.

Mr Cantlie, who was captured for the second time by IS three years ago, has long been used by the terror group for propaganda purposes.

He has appeared in nine videos from Mosul, and Aleppo and Kobani in Syria.

Fears for his life mounted when he said in February last year, the ninth video would be the last in the series. Friends and supporters, who have launched a petition on the Parliament website “to raise awareness and ensure the safe release of British ISIS hostage John Cantlie” voiced their relief on Twitter he was still alive – if looking thin and gaunt, and dismissed the latest video as filmed under duress.

“His words are not those of a free man,” one follower tweeted on #Free John Cantlie.

The Foreign Office said it was “looking at the latest video’s contents.