Beheading video


A beheading video is a form of propaganda or snuff video in which hostages are graphically decapitated. It is often employed by groups seeking to instill shock or terror into a population, whilst beheading has been a widely employed public execution method since the ancient Greeks and Romans, videos of this type only began to arise in 2002 with the beheading of Daniel Pearl and the growth of the Internet in the Information Age which allowed groups to anonymously publish these videos for public consumption. The beheadings shown in these videos are usually not performed in a "classical" method – decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a sword or axe – but by the relatively slow and tortuous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a knife. Despite the number of groups and ideologies that employ this form of propaganda, the process is overwhelmingly associated with Islamic extremists.

History

The first beheading video was of Daniel Pearl in 2002. The videos were popularized in 2004 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a radical Islamic militant.
The videos caused controversy among Islamic scholars, some of whom denounced them as against Islamic law; al-Qaeda did not approve and Osama bin Laden considered them poor public relations. Regardless, they became popular with certain Islamic terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The beheadings shown in these videos are usually not performed in a "classical" method – decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a sword or axe – but by the relatively slow and torturous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a knife.
Early videos were grainy and unsophisticated, but, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, had by 2004 been "growing in sophistication, using animated graphics and editing techniques apparently aimed at embellishing the audio to make a victim's final moments seem more disturbing". These videos are often uploaded to the World Wide Web by terrorists, then discussed and distributed by web-based outlets, such as blogs, shock sites, and traditional journalistic media. After a beheading video by a Mexican drug cartel spread virally on Facebook, the Family Online Safety Institute petitioned to have it removed. Initially, Facebook refused to remove the video, then did so, and subsequently clarified their policies, stating that beheading videos would only be allowed if posted in a manner intended for its users to "condemn" the acts.
Writing in The Atlantic, Simon Cottee drew a comparison between jihadist videos and gonzo pornography.

Videos released

2002

A hoax beheading video filmed by Benjamin Vanderford, Robert Martin, and Laurie Kirchner in 2004 received wide attention by the American press. The video used Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad's logo, but not the group's flag. It was originally filmed for Vanderford's local election campaign. He was seeking Matt Gonzalez's seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Vanderford's second intention was to point out how uncritically the mainstream media would accept an anonymous video. The Islamic Global Media Center claimed to have made the video, but removed it from their website after the hoax was discovered. The video also appeared on other militant websites and was broadcast on Arabic television.