Islamic State beheadings
In January 2014, a copy of an IS penal code surfaced describing the penalties it enforces in areas under its control, including multiple beheadings.
[6] According to Professor Ibrahim al-Marashi, IS's earlier incarnations used beheadings to force foreign policy changes such as getting the Philippines to withdraw from the Iraq War.
[7] On 12 August 2014, prior to the 2014–2015 wave of IS beheadings of Westerners and Japanese, IS members sent an email to the family of American hostage James Foley stating that American hostages would be killed in retaliation for: According to Professor Ibrahim al-Marashi, IS is using beheadings of locals to intimidate people, including their own soldiers, into obeying the dictates of a weak state.
"With an act of a sword, they manage to force both [American President] Obama and [British Prime Minister] Cameron to react.
[35] The following day, a recently formed IS affiliate in Algeria, Jund al-Khilafah, released a video which showed Hervé Gourdel being held hostage.
In it he declares that this kidnapping and execution were in response to the order of IS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani to attack citizens of countries participating in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State.
On October 1, 2013, as he was on his way to Deir Ez-Zor in eastern Syria to deliver food and medical supplies to refugees, Kassig was taken captive by IS.
[68] The Daily Telegraph and security expert Will Geddes speculated that Kassig may have defied his captors, and refused to provide a beheading video statement.
Al-Asaad was accused by IS of being an "apostate"; the group listed his alleged crimes, including representing Syria at "infidel conferences," serving as "the director of idolatry" in Palmyra, visiting Iran and communicating with a brother in the Syrian security services.
[87] Sky News spoke to a defector member of the Islamic State, who claimed he witnessed Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, murder Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.
[94] In a pre-dawn police raid on September 18, 2014, Australian law enforcement detained 15 individuals in Sydney and Brisbane who were allegedly plotting a "demonstration execution".
[95] The purported plan was to kidnap a random resident of Sydney and behead the individual on camera, draped in the black flag of the Islamic State.
In November 2017, Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman planned to detonate bombs and behead the then British prime minister Theresa May in the name of Islamic State.
Admiral Alan West, a former UK Security Minister, said that Jihadi John is a "dead man walking" who will be "hunted down like Osama Bin-Laden".
[100] British Prime Minister David Cameron also condemned the actions and stated that he was absolutely certain that Jihadi John would "one way or another, face justice".
"[105] The White House released this statement via Twitter: "The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of UK citizen David Haines by the terrorist group ISIL.
[108] The Boston-based GlobalPost, for whom Foley had been a contributor, released a statement saying "While we continue to send staff correspondents to Syria, we no longer accept freelance work from that war zone.
[110] French president François Hollande said Gourdel’s beheading was "cowardly" and "cruel," and confirmed that airstrikes would continue against ISIL in Iraq.
Hollande also called for three days of national mourning, with flags flown at half-mast throughout the country and said that security would be increased throughout Paris.
