US journalist's mother pleads with Islamic State to show mercy: 'My son, Steven ... - New York Daily News

Have mercy on my son.

The anguished mother of a captured U.S. journalist pleaded Wednesday with the barbarian holding Steven Sotloff to spare his life and set him free.

“He’s an innocent journalist,” Shirley Sotloff said in a videotaped address to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that was broadcast on the Al Arabiya Network.

REUTERS Shirley Sotloff, the mother of captured journalist Steven Sotloff, pleads with the ISIS terrorists holding her son hostage.

Addressing the murderous ISIS chief as “the caliph of the Islamic State,” the Florida mom said, “My son, Steven, is in your hands.”

“I ask you to use your authority to spare his life and to set the example of the Prophet Muhammed, who protected ‘People of the Book,’ ” she said, referring to a Muslim term for Jews and Christians. “I want what every mother wants: to live to see her children’s children. I plead with you to grant me this.”

Steven Sotloff is a freelance journalist being held captive by ISIS militants.

Shirley Sotloff made her heartfelt plea a week after ISIS released an unspeakable video showing the beheading of another American journalist, James Foley.

Minutes after cutting off Foley’s head, the masked executioner warned that Sotloff, 31, could be next.

In her plea to Baghdadi, Sotloff’s mom insisted her son “traveled 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,” she said. “He’s an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak.”

“We’ve not seen Steven for over a year, and we miss him very much. We want to see him home safe and sound and to hug him.”

AP Islamic State terror chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was begged to show mercy and release Sotloff.

Her son, she added, “has no control over the actions of the U.S. government.”

“Since Steven’s capture, I’ve learned a lot about Islam,” the 63-year-old mom continued. “I’ve learned that Islam teaches that no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others.”

She pleaded with Baghdadi to spare her son.

“I’ve always learned that you, the caliph, can grant amnesty,” she said. “I ask you to please release my child. As a mother, I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama was aware of Shirley Sotloff’s video, but not sure he had seen it.

Earnest said the President is “deeply engaged” in trying to get Sotloff and other American hostages in the Middle East released.

Handout/Getty Images Steven Sotloff (c., in black helmet) was captured one year ago while he was reporting in Syria.

youtube ISIS warned in a video that Steven Sotloff would be beheaded if Obama does not bend to its will.

“She obviously, as is evident from the video, feels desperate about the safety and well-being of her son, and understandably so, and that is why our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Sotloff’s family at this very difficult and trying time,” Earnest said.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said the government has been working feverishly — and behind the scenes — to secure Sotloff’s release.

“This is a tragic situation, and we have seen that (the Islamic State) has no respect for human life,” she said.

Shirley Sotloff’s plea came after ISIS launched a new terror campaign on Twitter to get President Obama to stop bombing their positions in Iraq.

It features Sotloff and urges ISIS followers to flood the Twitterverse with ghastly pictures and warnings that he will be beheaded if Obama does not bend to their will.

President Obama is 'deeply engaged' with seeking release of Sotloff and other hostages held by ISIS fiends.

Nicole Tung/AP Journalist James Foley was beheaded by ISIS and Sotloff was threatened with the same fate.

Sotloff, a freelancer who has reported for Time magazine, World Affairs, National Interest and the Christian Science Monitor, was captured a year ago while reporting in Syria.

His last tweet on Aug. 3, 2013, was about his favorite basketball team, the Miami Heat. His self-description was also out of date.

Sotloff called himself as a “stand-up philosopher from Miami. Currently in Libya.”

Prior to ISIS showing the video footage of Sotloff in captivity, very few people knew he had been taken hostage.

His parents, Shirley and Arthur, had tried to keep it under wraps, said Emerson Lotzia, a TV sports anchor in West Palm Beach, Fla., who was Sotloff’s roommate at the University of Central Florida.

Lotzia said when he spoke to 67-year-old Arthur Sotloff, “he was in the best of spirits, then he was in the worst of spirits.”

“He told me, ‘At last I know my son is alive. But look at the situation,’ ” Lotzia told The Associated Press. “It’s killing him, and he’s trying his best to stay on an even keel.”

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

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