BEIRUT: An Internet video purports to show the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group.
Sotloff, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, had last been seen in Syrian in August 2013 until he appeared in a video released online last month by the Islamic State group that showed the beheading of fellow American journalist James Foley.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against the backdrop of an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the group in Iraq.
In the video distributed Tuesday and entitled “A Second Message to America,” Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he is beheaded by an Islamic State fighter
Earlier, the black-clad executioner, speaking with a clear London accent, paraded Sotloff before the camera after Foley’s execution and said he would die unless President Barack Obama changes course after ordering US air raids against IS positions in Iraq.
Sotloff’s head was shaved and he wore the type of orange jumpsuits seen on terror suspects held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.
He was kidnapped more than a year ago, on August 4, 2013. His loved ones only revealed the timeline of his captivity this week, due to a previous media blackout.
Sotloff has worked as a freelance journalist for Time, the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy and World Affairs Journal.
The killing comes despite a fervent video appeal from Steven Sotloff’s mother begging Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to release her son, and not to punish him over matters he has no control over.
