(Daily Mail) James Foley was singled out for the harshest treatment by his ISIS captors after they found pictures of his brother who serves in the U.S. Air Force on his laptop computer, fellow prisoners said on Thursday.
He was regularly the victim of mock executions including once when he was ‘crucified against a wall,’ said French journalist Didier Francois.Francois, 53, told Europe 1 Radio that the captors gave Foley rougher treatment from the rest of them because they discovered a picture of John Foley — the hostage’s 35-year-old officer brother — on his computer.
Giving an insight into the physical and mental torture the hostages endured at the hands of the terrorists, Francois called Foley ‘one of the pillars of the group,’ who ‘never cracked even under the most difficult conditions’.’He was an extraordinary guy, an extremely nice companion in detention, very solid.
Francois described the conditions in which all the hostages were held in Syria, as always ‘rough and sometimes violent.’
A second French hostage, Nicolas Henin, who spent seven months in captivity with Foley in Syria, including a week during which they were handcuffed together, said the American was always seen as ‘some kind of scapegoat’ by his captors.’Being an American he was probably more targeted by the kidnappers. Well, he would be beaten a bit more probably, he was some kind of scapegoat,’ Henin told the BBC.’And the kidnappers knew that his brother was in the U.S. Air Force,’ added Henin, who was released in April.
‘He became the whipping-boy of the jailers but remained unperturbed’.The hostages were led by Foley’s British killer ‘John’ – ringleader of gang of British jihadis known as ‘The Beatles’, who guarded western hostages for ISIS. Francois, 53, said he has ‘a rough idea’ as to the identity of the left-handed killer.
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into his death.
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