When they saw their grandchildren for the first time, it was in a Taliban hostage video

The parents of a Canadian man held hostage in Afghanistan say a recently released Taliban video of his family marks the first time they’ve seen the two grandchildren, who were born in captivity.

Canadian Joshua Boyle and his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, were kidnapped in 2012 while travelling in northern Afghanistan. In the video, they beg for their governments to intervene on their behalf. Coleman — sitting with two young children — urges governments on all sides to reach a deal to secure the family’s freedom.

Boyle’s parents, Patrick and Linda Boyle, said in statement Wednesday that the video is the first glimpse at the kids.

“It is an indescribable emotional sense one has watching a grandson making faces at the camera, while hearing our son’s leg chains clanging up and down on the floor as he tries to settle his son,” the Boyles said in a written statement. “It is unbelievable that they have had to shield their sons from their horrible reality for four years.”

The parents say their son told them in a letter that they’ve tried to protect the children by pretending their signs of captivity are part of a game being played with guards.

“It is simply heartbreaking to watch both boys so keenly observing their new surroundings in a makeshift film studio, while listening to their mother describe how they were made to watch her being defiled,” the Boyles said.

The parents of Coleman hope US president-elect Donald Trump will broker her release if President Barack Obama doesn’t succeed before he leaves office. Jim and Lyn Coleman, of Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, spoke to ABC’s Good Morning America.

“I do believe that either the President will get her home before he leaves or will set in motion a process that the next president can do it,” Jim Coleman said.