The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) is threatening to murder a British hostage, this announcement made at the tail of the horrific video in which an extremist known as “Jihadi John” beheaded a second American journalist identified as Steven Sotloff.  Two weeks ago, Sotloff’s life was threatened at the end of the video showing the beheading of his fellow American James Foley.

As in the earlier video, the hostages were dressed in orange, a deliberate allusion to the orange prison jumpsuits worn by terrorist inmates in the US detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba.  The terrorist dressed in black announces to US President Barack Obama that “I’m back,” and later levels a warning directly at British Prime Minister David Cameron:  “We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone.”

(Note, the video is gruesome.. If you feel you must watch it, click here.. You’re welcome)

The execution of Sotloff comes despite his mother Shirley releasing her own video earlier in which she pleads with the terrorist group’s leader caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for her son’s life.  The Sotloffs say they are now grieving and there will be no further statement.

Steven Sotloff grew up in Florida and studied journalism at the University of Central Florida.  As a freelance reporter, the 31-year old wrote for Time Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the Daily Caller, Foreign Policy, and most recently for World Affairs Journal, covering trouble spots in the Middle East.

The British man David Cawthorne Haines spent ten years in the military, has a wife and daughter in Croatia, and did security work for some charitable organizations.