MOSCOW, September 21 (RIA Novosti) – Barbara Henning, the wife of a British national Alan Henning, who is held hostage by the Islamic State militants, has pleaded jihadists for his release, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday, citing a statement released through Britain's Foreign Office.
"I pray that the people holding Alan respond to my messages and contact me before it is too late. When they hear this message I implore the people of the Islamic State to see it in their hearts to release my husband Alan Henning," the agency quoted her as saying.
According to Agence France-Presse , she also noted that Henning is a "peaceful, selfless man who left his family and his job as a taxi driver in the UK to drive in a convoy all the way to Syria with his Muslim colleagues and friends to help those most in need."
Alan Henning had been helping provide humanitarian relief when he was captured during IS's occupation of the Syrian city of Al-Dana in December 2013.
The IS militants earlier vowed to execute Henning. The executions of the three previous hostages included US citizens James Foley and Steven Sotloff and UK citizen David Haines.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq and seized vast areas in both countries, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
