| The News Minute | March 14, 2015 | 10:36 a.m. IST |
A defector from the Islamic State has claimed to explain why the hostages in the IS execution videos looked so calm, even moments before death.
According to a Sky News report, “Saleh” as the defector is called was being used by the IS as a translator. He claims in the report that the hostages didn’t show any signs of fear as they were not told it was an execution but a rehearsal and that the IS subjected hostages to such routine “mock-executions”.
Saleh told the channel that he was employed by a Turkish man who would ask him to tell the hostages not to fear and that they would be spared. He was reportedly asked to tell them to appear relaxed and appeal for their release, when Saleh himself says he knew they would be killed.
Of the Turkish man, Saleh reportedly says: “He would say to me 'say to them, no problem, only video, we don't kill you, we want from your government [to] stop attacking Syria. We don't have any problem with you; you are only our visitors'”.
“Maybe they [the captors] raise their voice, but without hitting. All the time he say to him 'it's a rehearsal, don't [be] afraid'. “I will explain. He want, when he will kill you really… [it] don't enter his [hostage's] head”, he adds.
Saleh has also gone on record to say that hostages were given Arabic names before their execution.