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Executed reporter’s parents praise ‘fearless’ son

Aug 21, 2014
Journalist James Foley in Libya in 2011.

Journalist James Foley in Libya in 2011.

Friends, relatives and colleagues have paid tribute to American journalist James Foley, executed by Islamic State jihadists, with his parents praising their “fearless” son.

Condolences and shocked messages poured in after the Islamist group released a video of Foley’s beheading late on Tuesday, including from French journalists who revealed they had been held alongside him in the past year.

Foley, 40, had been missing since he was seized in Syria in November 2012.

“We’re very proud of him. He was a courageous, fearless journalist, a very compassionate American. He was just a hero,” Foley’s mother Diane told reporters outside their New Hampshire home.

“It haunts me, how much pain he was in and how cruel this method of execution is as opposed to so many others,” said his father John. “We believe he was a martyr, a martyr for freedom.”

French journalists Didier Francois and Nicolas Henin, who were released by Syrian jihadists earlier this year, revealed on Wednesday they had been held alongside Foley.

“He was an extraordinary guy, an extremely nice companion in detention, very solid,” said Francois of Europe 1 radio.

“This was someone who never fully submitted to the kidnappers. He was always thinking of others during the whole detention, notably asking for food for everyone.”

Henin of L’Express magazine said Foley had faced particular abuse from their jailers because he was American and his brother is in the US air force.

“He was a guy of great bravery,” said Henin. “He became the whipping-boy of the jailers … but remained unperturbed.”

On Twitter, fellow journalists implored users not to view the graphic video of the execution, instead sharing images of Foley in the field.

Dick Costolo, Twitter’s CEO, wrote: “We have been and are actively suspending accounts as we discover them related to this graphic imagery.”

In the nearly five-minute video, titled “A Message to America” and distributed online by known Islamic State sources, the group declares that Foley was killed after US President Barack Obama ordered air strikes against IS positions in northern Iraq.

Thousands posted messages of sorrow on the Facebook site Free James Foley, while Obama said the entire world was appalled by the execution.

According to witnesses, Foley was seized in the northern Syrian province of Idlib on November 22, 2012

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