UK student appears in barbaric jihadi film showing beheadings
Graphic video is designed to spark invasion, experts warn
A UK medical student was last night suspected of being in an Islamic State killing squad that murdered 18 hostages.
The father of Nasser Muthana said the 20-year- old appeared to be among 16 jihadists who were filmed beheading Syrian soldiers in the desert.
The sickening video that was on YouTube for an hour yesterday morning also shows the decapitated body of Peter Kassig, a 26-year-old American aid worker.
Ahmed Muthana said: ‘I cannot be certain but it looks like my son. He must fear Allah now for killing people. How can he expect to face Allah if he is killing human beings?’
Asked if he would forgive his son if he returned home to Cardiff, the 57-year- old replied: ‘No, he must be mentally ill – either that or there is something else not right.’
Analysts believe the murder video is an attempt by Islamic State to provoke the West into an all-out assault and ‘final battle’. As Jihadi John, the British leader of the kill-
‘We need to keep all options open’
ing squad, warned David Cameron of slaughter on our streets:
The former Chief of the General Staff said Britain may need to ‘think the unthinkable’ and send ground troops to take on Islamic State forces;
Mr Cameron said the beheadings underlined the ‘deplorable depths’ the ‘depraved’ terrorists were prepared to go to;
The acts were described as ‘13th-century barbarism’ by former PM John Major;
Friends of Mr Kassig said he may have refused to make a propaganda statement before he was murdered;
Barack Obama described Mr Kassig’s murder as an ‘act of pure evil’.
The footage showed John and 15 other unmasked extremists brutally decapitating Syrian army hostages.
Speaking with his distinct British accent, John issued a blood curdling threat to slaughter people on the streets of Britain. The Foreign Office said yesterday it was investigating unconfirmed claims that John had been recently wounded in an airstrike by the Americans.
It is unclear when the horrific but slickly-produced film was shot but it is markedly more graphic than previous videos and the final act of beheading a long line of hostages is not blacked out. Mr Kassig, who converted to Islam in captivity, becomes the fifth Western victim to be beheaded.
Last night, the former Chief of the General Staff, Lord Dannatt, said: ‘We need to keep all options open if we are to defeat IS. Are we just going to wish this away, or are we going to take action?’
The Foreign Office confirmed they were ‘ looking into’ claims that Muthana, who left his family to train with extremists in Syria, was one of the militants in the footage. Muthana was exposed as a terrorist in training after he appeared in a recruitment video for the insurgent group in June, devastating the family he left behind in Cardiff after it was circulated on the internet.
The medical student was joined in Syria by his younger brother Aseel, 17, who has spoken of his willingness to die fighting. After arriving in the country, Muthana threatened to use his terror ‘ skills’ when he returned to the UK.
Charlie Winter, from the Qulliam think tank, said: ‘It looks like Nasser Muthana is in the video. The video is far more graphic than other videos. It is reflective of perhaps IS trying to be defiant in the face of increased pressure.
‘Things aren’t going well for them at the moment and this is a message of defiance and provocation.’
In the video, John branded the Obama administration ‘liars’ for not withdrawing from Iraq, adding: ‘The spark has been lit here in Iraq and its heat will continue to intensify by Allah’s permission until it burns the crusader army in Dabiq. And here we are, burying the first crusader in Dabiq. Eagerly awaiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive.’
Analysts said the change of video location to Dabiq – and not somewhere on the outskirts of Raqqa as before – suggested that John and the hostages were being moved fre-
‘It is a message of defiance’
quently to avoid coalition air strikes and to thwart rescue attempts.
A friend of Mr Kassig said the lack of a statement suggested he had defied his captors. Michael Downey, a close friend from Beirut, said: ‘I think he refused. He was a man of principle and wouldn’t give in to intimidation from thugs. He never took the easy route.’
The latest horrifying video is very different from other Islamic State propaganda films. Experts believe it shows how the jihadists are seeking to heighten the disgust they provoke.
Security and military analysts say this new tactic is a plot to lure Western and other forces into a fullscale ground offensive IS leaders think they can win.
The analysts reckon IS is already reeling from air attacks that have stopped it taking the key Syrian border town of Kobane.
The actual murder of Mr Kassig is not shown in the latest film and he does not deliver a final message as other hostages have.
There is also no announcement of the name of the next victim.
Lasting 15 minutes and 53 seconds, the video – titled ‘Although the disbelievers dislike it’ – starts with a documentary-style history of Islamic State since the invasion of Iraq by the Western allies in 2003.
It is in a different style from the rest of the footage, with more sophisticated graphics, and a treatment often used for major ‘state of the nation’ productions. There are scenes of bombings, summary executions and graphic footage of dead civilians in the streets. It also shows what appears to be a dead child lying on a bed covered in blood.
Some of the footage of the bombings has not been seen before, though other scenes showing the summary killings of suspected Iraqi soldiers has. It is designed to incite supporters and operatives back in the UK by justifying their actions.
In the film, John is seen leading a line of Syrian troops to their deaths. A few paces behind him – and in the middle of a 16-strong line of Islamist jihadists said to be from more than six countries – is the man believed to be Muthana.
Like the other jihadists he is unmasked. John, however, keeps to his habit of showing only his eyes.
Muthana clutches the scruff of the neck of a Syrian soldier, whose hands are bound with plastic ties. But while the other militants have expressionless faces – this young bearded man looks menacingly into the distance. Taking the lead from
John and those in the line before him, he brandishes a military knife taken from a box of weapons.
The chilling sound of a blade being drawn can be heard above the sound of Islamic music in the background. The prisoners are not wearing orange jumpsuits, as in previous videos, but are dressed in black trousers and shirts.
John, who has leather shoulder
‘Blood turned the sand red’
holsters for hand guns and a balaclava- style mask, takes centre stage. His appearance would seem to confirm his seniority and status as ‘chief executioner’ of IS.
The man thought to be Muthana stands to his right. John delivers his message to America and Britain before an eerie silence during which the camera zooms in on the faces of the killers, who remain impassive throughout. The scene then focuses on John – who begins to cut his prisoner’s neck – quelling suspicion that he himself did not actually perform the previous beheadings.
Unlike the apparent murders of Western hostages, in which the camera cuts away at the moment their throats are cut, the killings of the soldiers are shown in full.
The camera zooms in on John and his victim who, in his final agonising moments, closes his eyes. John then looks threateningly into the camera while still holding the knife. The next clip shows a knife slicing into the necks of Syrian soldiers followed by a stream of blood that turns the sand red.
The image after that shows the soldiers’ heads on top of their bent-over bodies.
As with the other clips, it is not clear when the final scene was actually filmed – though it is claimed to have been shot in Dabiq. While the American’s death has not been verified, John says: ‘This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen of your country. Peter, who fought against the Muslims in Iraq while serving as a soldier under the American army, doesn’t have much to say. His previous cellmates have already spoken on his behalf.’
John Cantlie, the British journalist currently being held by the Islamic State, has featured in several propaganda videos but is yet to be named by his captors as the next to be killed.
EVEN by the sub-human standards of the Islamic State, yesterday’s propaganda video was grotesque.
The pitiless slaughter of 16 Syrian soldiers by a group led by Jihadi John – and apparently i nvolving a second British-born fanatic, who has boasted on Twitter of joining IS – contained a truly appalling level of barbarity.
Likewise the images of the beheading by Jihadi John of the US hostage Peter Kassig, a former soldier who converted to Islam and dedicated his life to aid work. The horror is compounded, however, by the knowledge that – within two hours of being posted online – these scenes had been viewed by tens of thousands of people on YouTube and other websites, after links were posted across Twitter, Facebook and other social media.
Eventually, they were removed. But who knows what harm had been done to vulnerable young minds in the meantime.
Speaking a day before the video emerged, David Cameron had warned the big technology firms they had a ‘social responsibility’ to be more proactive in deleting terrorist material.
Every minute the web firms delay is a gift to the IS mass murderers who have – in the words of the head of GCHQ – been allowed to turn the internet into their ‘command and control’ centre.