Muslim Groups in Britain Denounce Beheading of Aid Worker Alan Henning

Muslim groups across Britain have united to condemn the beheading of aid worker Alan Henning by Islamic State (IS) insurgents, with one leading cleric calling it a "despicable and offensive act".

 

Prayers for the 47-year-old taxi driver from Salford in northern England were said in mosques throughout the country at the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival.

Mr Henning had been held captive in Syria for nine months before a video was posted on YouTube showing him kneeling before a masked knifeman against a desert setting.

Britain's prime minister David Cameron said Mr Henning was a gentle, compassionate man who had simply tried to help others.

In a message broadcasted after meeting the heads of Britain's armed forces and intelligence agencies, Mr Cameron emphasised that Britain would do all it could to destroy Mr Henning's killers.

"We will use all the assets we have ... to defeat this organisation which is utterly ruthless, senseless and barbaric in the way it treats people," he said.

The video is almost identical to those released after three previous murders, including those of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

In the video, Mr Henning's masked killer spoke briefly with the same southern British accent as that of the killer of previous hostages widely dubbed Jihadi John.

Mr Henning was the fourth hostage to have been beheaded by IS, which has faced air strikes by US, British, French and Arab fighter jets since seizing swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Six Australian F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets are on standby in the United Arab Emirates ready to carry out air strikes that are expected within days.

The case had prompted a wave of appeals from British Muslim leaders and several expressed their shock at the murder.

Muslim Council of Britain secretary-general Shuja Shafi described it as a "despicable and offensive act".
"He helped Muslims," Dr Shafi tweeted.

"My thoughts and prayers are with his family."

A group calling itself Muslims of the North of England called Mr Henning a "national hero", while 
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation that aims to help young Muslims, said: "This barbaric killing is an attack against all decent people around the world."

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