Steven Sotloff: 'A stand-up philosopher from Miami'

In what the US State Department called a “sickening act”, the Islamic State extremists released a fresh video purportedly showing the beheading of another US journalist Steven Sotloff.

Steven Sotloff: 'A stand-up philosopher from Miami'

Washington: US journalist Steven Sotloff, who wrote about the affairs of Middle East, is the second American slain by the Islamic State militants in Syria, after another American scribe James Foley was beheaded similarly days ago.

31-year-old Sotloff was a freelance journalist who went missing in Syria in 2013 where he was thought to be abducted near Aleppo.

On his Twitter account, he described himself as a 'stand-up philosopher from Miami' and his last tweet is dated Aug 2, 2013.

As a journalist, Sotloff covered in detail the affairs of Middle East and his articles written over Syria, Libya, Egypt, etc were published in several renowned publications like Time magazine, Foreign Policy, the Christian Science Monitor, World Affairs Journal, etc.

From his tweets, it is also clear that Sotloff loved following Basketball and was a fan of the team Miami Heat.

In fact, Sotloff's last tweet dated August 3, 2013, mentions basketball player Greg Oden of Miami Heat team.

 

In another tweet, Steven Sotloff wrote how he fought an urge to watch the repeat of a basketball final match involving Miami heat, to focus on Syria.

 

After the IS posted James Foley execution video, threatening to kill Sotloff, his mothr Shirley Sotloff appeared in a video pleading for her son's life before Islamic State Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In the video that was posted on New York Times, Sotloff's mother is heard making an impassioned plea to the barbaric extremists when she says, “I am sending this message to you, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Quraishi al-Hussaini, the caliph of the Islamic State. I am Shirley Sotloff. My son Steven is in your hands”.

In an elegiac but futile attempt to get her son's life spared, Mrs Stevens tries to convince the IS Caliph about how Stevens “travelled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants”.

“Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson. He’s an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak. We have not seen Steven in over a year,” she added.

“As a mother, I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. I ask you to use your authority to spare his life and to follow the example set by the Prophet Muhammad, who protected People of the Book. I want what every mother wants, to live to see her children’s children, I plead with you to grant me this,” pleaded Steven's mother.