Families Of Foley And Sotloff Were Threatened With Criminal Prosecution
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| Shirley Sotloff |
The families of murdered American journalists Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff are speaking out against the US government for making their efforts to free their loved ones a "helpless" endeavor.
The parents of Steven Sotloff, a freelance journalist who was kidnapped by militants in Syria, told Yahoo News on Friday that a member of the president's National Security Council threatened them with criminal prosecution if they attempted to pay a ransom to get their son freed.
"The family felt completely and utterly helpless when they heard this," Barak Barfi, a friend of Sotloff who is serving as a spokesman for his family, told Yahoo News. "The Sotloffs felt there was nothing they could do to get Steve out."
Sotloff's mother, Shirley, recorded an emotional video directly addressing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late August. Despite her plea for mercy, the group murdered her son one week later.
The claim that the government would bring charges against the Sotloff family echoes similar points made in a CNN interview with Jim Foley's mother Diane, in which she said she was "embarrassed and appalled" by the US government's handling of her son's case.
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