WASHINGTON // The mother of a US hostage threatened with death by the Islamist gang that murdered a kidnapped reporter pleaded for her son’s life yesterday.
In an emotional televised appeal Shirley Sotloff, mother of 31-year-old freelance reporter Steven Sotloff, directly addressed the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Omar Al Baghdadi, in a video message.
“My son Steven is in your hands,” she said. “He is a journalist who made a journey to cover the story of Muslims suffering at the hands of tyrants.
“As a mother, I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over.”
Sotloff disappeared in Syria last August. His apparent kidnapping was not widely reported until he appeared on a video released by the ISIL last week.
In the footage a masked militant beheads US reporter James Foley then parades Sotloff, warning he will meet the same fate unless the US president, Barack Obama, halts air strikes against the group in Iraq.
“We have not seen Steven for over a year and we miss him very much. We want to see him home safe and sound and to hug him,” the mother said, looking tired and tense but controlled.
“Since his capture, I have learned a lot about Islam. I’ve learned that Islam teaches that no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others,” she said.
“Steven has no control over the actions of the US government. He’s an innocent journalist. I’ve always learned that you, the Caliph, can grant amnesty. I ask you to please release my child.”
Another US journalist, Peter Theo Curtis, 45, held for nearly two years by militants in Syria returned to the US late on Tuesday, two days after Qatar negotiated his release.
“I have been so touched and moved, beyond all words, by the people who have come up to me today, strangers on the airplane, the flight attendants and, most of all, my family, to say welcome home,” Curtis said from his Boston-area home.
* Agence France-Presse
