MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti) - The mother Steven Sotloff, a US journalist currently held captive by Islamic State (IS) militants, has videotaped an address to the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, begging him to release her son, the Daily News reported.
“I want what every mother wants: to live to see her children’s children. I plead with you to grant me this,” Sotloff’s mother, Shirley said.
Shirley Sotloff recorded the plea a week after IS released a video showing the beheading to another US journalist, James Foley. Right after the murder, the masked executioner warned that Sotloff could be next.
Last week, the shocking video of Foley being beheaded by a member of the jihadist group was broadcast all around the world. The jarring footage was titled “The Message to America.” The journalist’s executioner argued Foley was killed because US President Barack Obama had ordered airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq.
In her video, Sotloff’s mother said her son “has no control over the actions of the US government.”
According to the White House’s spokesman, Josh Earnest, Obama is deeply engaged in trying to get all US hostages in the Middle East released.
IS, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), an al-Qaeda offshoot, was fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad and in June launched a large-scale offensive in Iraq, seizing large parts of the country.
In June, the group declared itself a “caliphate,” changed its name to the Islamic State and claimed religious authority over all Muslims globally.
In August, the United States authorized airstrikes to help Bagdad fight against IS positions in Iraq.
In turn, IS militants have launched a Twitter campaign, threatening to kill other American journalists if the United States did not stop its attacks.
