Abducted priest's photo appears on Facebook

More than four months after Catholic priest Fr Tom Uzhunnalil was abducted by unidentified gunmen in the Republic of Yemen, a message was posted from his Facebook handle along with a photograph of the priest.

The photograph of what appears to be a bearded, visibly harried Fr Tom was posted on Tuesday along with a message – “Fr Tom’s entreaty will be uploaded soon …!”

Meanwhile, an undated video showing a blindfolded, bearded man being roughed up started doing the rounds on social media with the title “Video of Fr Tom being beaten up”. The video appears to have been uploaded from a Twitter handle. While veracity of the photograph and the video is yet to be ascertained, a member of the priest’s family said they “looked real”.

The priest’s friends and family members have responded to the photograph and video with prayers.