RT News & Steven Yablonski / WCVB-TV – 2014-08-24 01:51:03
http://rt.com/uk/181596-celebrities-twitter-foley-beheading/
UK Celebs Urge against Sharing
James Foley Video Online
RT News
LONDON (August 23, 2014) — Celebrities and commentators have led calls on Twitter for the video depicting the beheading of US journalist James Foley not to be shared online to avoid handing the Islamic State a platform for its propaganda.
Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy, former Tory MP Louise Mensch and Mirror journalist Kevin Maguire are among those urging social network users not to forward the footage on to their contacts.
Guru-Murthy said:
“The intended effect of beheading James Foley on video is to spread fear of IS. Don’t help by watching or sharing it” #JamesFoley
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) August 19, 2014
Meanwhile, Mensch urged her followers to share a picture of Foley alive rather than “any of him in the hands of his gutless murderers.”
“Never watched a beheading video and never will. If there is a hell, I hope the executioners rot in it,” tweeted Maguire.
Please tweet this photo of James Foley and not any of him in the hands of his gutless murderers. #RIPJamesFoleypic.twitter.com/cAcVVJgyDn
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) August 19, 2014
Thousands of ordinary users from around the world backed the plan to deny the IS publicity using the hashtag #ISISmediablackout.
Instead of the graphic video, many like Mensch were sharing pictures of Foley smiling at work, encouraging people to disseminate them in his memory instead.
Their comments come as Twitter told users it would suspend the accounts of anyone tweeting graphic images or footage of the beheading.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Islamic State militants who released the video ‘represent a direct threat’ to UK security. David Cameron, who has cut short his holiday to respond to the incident, said on Twitter: “If true, the murder of James Foley is shocking and depraved. I will today chair meetings on the situation in Iraq/Syria.”
American photojournalist James Wright Foley went missing almost two years ago while covering the conflict in Syria as a freelance photographer. The militants proclaimed the violent act as “a message to America” for its decision to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in Iraq.
In the grisly film, Foley appears kneeling beside a masked man who speaks with a British accent. Foley read a letter which blames the US government for “hammering the final nail into his coffin” before his beheading with a short blade.
Note: Banning a video showing such a barbarous act is completely understandable. But erasing the record that provides the stated motive for the crime disenfranchises the public from a complete understanding of what transpired and why.
In the absence of this background information, pro-escalation voices in Washington are using a young American’s death as a justification for additional US air assaults against a regional militia in a country that lies nearly 6,000 miles from America’s eastern border. – EAW editor.
The YouTube link to the video has been removed. There is no transcript of James Foley’s final words. It its place is the following announcement:
“This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spams, scams, and commercially deceptive content.”
ISIS Video Shows Journalist
James Foley’s Beheading, US Officials Say
Steven Yablonski / WCVB-TV
BOSTON (August 19, 2014) — United States government officials confirmed that a video released by ISIS Tuesday shows the cold-blooded execution of journalist James Foley, of New Hampshire, who has been missing for nearly two years.
The video begins with Obama explaining his decision to order airstrikes in Iraq before switching to a man dressed in an orange jumpsuit kneeling with a person dressed in black by his side. The man, who United States government officials confirmed Tuesday night to be Foley, then delivers a statement saying the United States government is his killer.
“For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality,” ABC News reported the Foley said in the video. “I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom of seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American.”
Seconds later, ABC News reported, the person dressed in black takes out a knife and identifies himself as being with ISIS.
“Today your military air force has attacked us daily,” the person said. “Your strikes have caused causalities amongst Muslims. Any attempt to deny the Muslims their right to live in safety under Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.”
The video then shows Foley being beheaded.
Another journalist, Steven Sotloff, is also seen dressed in an orange jumpsuit in the video.
“The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the person dressed in black said.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
