Aid agency slams ISIL beheading threat

The aid agency that has hired a British worker being held hostage by Takfiri ISIL terrorists has condemned threats of his execution and demanded his immediate release.

Paris-based ACTED said in a Friday statement on its website that it had been deeply shocked by video images released recently showing the brutal beheading of two American journalists by the Takfiri terrorists.

The British hostage, David Haines, a 44-year-old father of two from Perth in Scotland, was kidnapped last year while working for the French agency.

Last Tuesday, he was shown kneeling in the sand wearing an orange jumpsuit on an ISIL-released video of the beheading of US hostage Steven Sotloff, with the warning from an ISIL element with a British accent that he would be next if Washington continued to launch air strikes against the Takfiri terrorists in northern Iraq.

“The threats on David Haines’ life are intolerable,” said the ACTED statement. “We have been working from day one with David’s family. More than ever, we are pursuing our efforts, and our thoughts are with David and his family.”

“ACTED strongly condemns the violence and threats against David. A man’s life should never be threatened on account of his humanitarian commitment,” it added.

The statement further reiterated, “Once again, we call for David’s immediate release.”

It also said Haines had been engaged in humanitarian work since 1999, helping victims of conflicts in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.

When he was taken hostage in March 2013, he was in Syria as part of ACTED’s humanitarian effort there, it added.