Haines, who was beheaded by a masked executioner, was forced to read a script, in which he blamed his country’s leaders for his killing. David Cameron, UK Prime Minister and also a member of a core coalition of nations including US President, Barack Obama is reported to be under pressure, as the video came straight after the NATO leaders met in Wales ahead this month to work out a plan of action to address the growing threat from the Islamic State.
The video which culminated with the executioner identifying Alan Henning, another British citizen as their next victim was similar to the videos that were released after the beheading of American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Haines and Henning were seen kneeling down wearing orange over-alls with the executioner wielding a dagger.
It is believed that other than Henning, another British citizen and two American aid workers are in the captivity of the militant group. Their relatives, in an apparent bid to do everything possible have asked the media to not disclose the names of the people in captivity. Islamic State has issued a warning that the hostages would die if the relatives disclosed their identities.
The British government has said that it is verifying the video. Cameron took to twitter to condemn the killings by writing, ‘The murder of David Haines is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to his family who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude. We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.’
It has also come out that Cameron like Obama refused to pay a ransom for Haines. He told Sky News that it is a desperately difficult situation and that the United Kingdom does not pay ransom to terrorists when they kidnap our citizens. Haines had been working as a security consultant when he was captured in a refugee camp in northern Syria and his family had issued a statement appealing the militants to make contact with Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The messages solicited no replies.
Prime Minister David Cameron is to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency response committee on Sunday to discuss an Islamic State (IS) video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines.
IS militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released the video on Saturday. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage, but the images were consistent with those of the filmed executions of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, in the past month.
Cameron, who returned to London ahead of schedule on Saturday night, had called the murder an act of pure evil and vowed to bring the aid worker’s killers to justice.
‘This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal,’ he said in a statement.
‘We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.’
Haines’s purported executioner appears to be the same man who featured in videos with Foley and Sotloff. The man, nicknamed ‘Jihadi John’ by Western media, seems to have a British accent.
Security services in Britain have been trying to identify him using voice recognition technology. At the end of the same video, another hostage is shown and threatened.
A British security source speaking on condition of anonymity said an investigation was under way into the killings and that senior intelligence officials would attend Sunday’s meeting of the COBR emergency committee that Cameron will chair.
The source declined to go into detail about what, if any, progress the investigation had made.
Cameron has faced calls from some of his Conservative party lawmakers to authorise British air strikes against Islamic State and has said he is ruling nothing out apart from putting combat troops on the ground.