A still from the December 2013 video. SITE Intelligence Group/AFP
Wife of slain aid worker hopes new legislation will help families of people kidnapped by militants in future.
The wife of slain aid worker Warren Weinstein has thanked lawmakers in the U.S. for passing simple congressional resolutions honoring the memory of her husband.
In a statement issued to media, Elaine Weinstein said her entire family was “profoundly grateful” for the sentiments expressed in S.Res.169 and H.Res.236, which praise Weinstein for his lifelong commitment to humanitarian work and urge Washington to make the recovery of captive citizens, regardless of their situation, a top priority. “Warren’s life touched so many people and the outpouring of love and respect we have heard from those around the world has brought us great comfort during a difficult time,” she said.
Weinstein also applauded Congressman John Delaney for introducing the Warren Weinstein Hostage Rescue Act. “We hope [this] will create new avenues for those who have been taken hostage to be safely released,” writes Weinstein, adding that families of abductees require official support to help bring their loves ones home. “No family should have to experience the pain and devastation that ours has felt,” she added.
“Development workers, journalists, Foreign Service Officers, members of our military, and others working abroad serve in adverse conditions at great personal risk and financial strain,” wrote Weinstein, adding that her husband and many others had dedicated their lives to promoting good over evil.
Weinstein also reiterated thanks to government officials and politicians who had helped her family through the ordeal of her husband’s abduction. “We hope to be the last family that fails to receive the level of coordinated government support that those who serve abroad deserve when trouble finds them,” she said. “As Warren’s case makes painfully clear, the people who take our citizens hostage do not discriminate amongst them based on their job or employer and neither should our government.”
Warren Weinstein was abducted by Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan in 2011 and killed with fellow hostage and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porta in a CIA drone strike in January targeting a suspected hideout of the terror group in Pakistan’s tribal areas.