Journalists and humanitarian workers: US hostages killed by Islamic State

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 30, 2017, a member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), formed by an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters, removes a flag of the Islamic State group in the Tabqa city, about 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of Raqa city as they advance in their battle for the group’s de facto capital. Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP

WASHINGTON – American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and humanitarian workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller, were among Westerners taken hostage and killed by the so-called Islamic State group in Syria.

Two members of an IS cell dubbed the “Beatles” were due to appear via video link in a US court on Wednesday, accused of participating in their murders.

James Foley

James Foley was abducted on November 22, 2012 in northern Syria with British Sunday Times journalist John Cantlie, who remains missing.

One writer and cameraman, Foley, 40, covered the uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime for various outlets, including Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Raised in New Hampshire, the former school teacher had war zone experience after covering conflicts in Iraq and Libya.

He was the first American journalist and the first in a series of hostages to be assassinated by the IS, who spread extremely violent propaganda about the executions.

On August 19, 2014, IS posted a video online showing a masked man dressed in black beheading him in retaliation for the US attacks in Iraq.

The head of the cell responsible for his death, Mohamed Emwazi, nicknamed “Jihadist John”, appeared at the end of the video. Emwazi was killed in an American airstrike in Syria in November 2015.

A foundation named after James Foley was created by his mother, Diane. Its mission is to defend American hostages and promote the safety of journalists.

Steven Sotloff

Steven Sotloff, 31, was captured on August 4, 2013, north of Aleppo, where he was covering the refugee crisis.

Familiar with the Middle East after working in Yemen, Libya and Egypt, he wrote for Time and Foreign Policy magazines.

Originally from Miami, he was the grandson of Holocaust survivors and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.

His family and the Israeli government kept his kidnapping a secret for a year to try to help him return safely.

But it was featured in the James Foley murder video. His mother, Shirley, later implored the Islamic State to release him in a video in which she said her son had no control over the actions of the United States government.

He was beheaded in early September 2014 in an execution in which the jihadist John appeared.

Peter kassig

Peter Kassig, 26, was the head of a small NGO that distributed food, clothing and medicine to Syrian refugees when he was abducted on October 1, 2013.

From the US Midwestern state of Indiana, he had briefly fought in Iraq as a US Army Ranger before becoming a humanitarian worker in Lebanon and then Syria.

According to his family, he said he had found his “calling” in helping Syrians who were victims of the war. His NGO had trained some 150 civilians in medical skills.

In November 2014, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for his execution in a video in which a masked man identified as the jihadist John appeared, standing next to a severed head.

The same video showed the simultaneous beheadings of some 15 men described as Syrian military personnel.

Kayla mueller

Kayla Mueller, a young humanitarian and activist from Arizona, was abducted in Aleppo, northern Syria, in August 2013.

After leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital, where she visited a friend, she was arrested on her way to the bus station to leave for Turkey.

The Islamic State claimed, without offering any proof, that she was killed by a Jordanian plane in an airstrike near Raqqa, Syria, in 2015, when she was 26 years old.

Mueller’s parents, who live in Prescott, Arizona, said their daughter had dedicated her career “to helping those in need in countries around the world” since she graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009.

She had worked with humanitarian aid groups in northern India, Israel, and the Palestinian territories, before returning home to Arizona in 2011 and working at an HIV / AIDS clinic and a women’s shelter.

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