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Islamic State’s execution videos are sly propaganda written in blood

The condemned man kneels in an orange jumpsuit, just like before. Behind him stands an executioner dressed all in black, a leather holster over one shoulder. The killer’s face is covered, and he holds a knife in his left hand, just like before. The message is clear: This is a ritual. We’ve done it before, […]

Rob Crilly writes for Al Jazeera:

The condemned man kneels in an orange jumpsuit, just like before. Behind him stands an executioner dressed all in black, a leather holster over one shoulder. The killer’s face is covered, and he holds a knife in his left hand, just like before. The message is clear: This is a ritual. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. And again.

The video released on Tuesday by the Islamic State depicting the murder of American journalist Steven Sotloff bears startling similarities to the one released two weeks earlier that captured the last moments of James Foley, down to the London accent of the murderer. He goes out of his way to make it clear that although U.S. and British intelligence agencies are using sophisticated voice recognition technology to trace his identity, he has returned to wield the knife.