Brussels, 04/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 September, the European Union said it was “more committed than ever to support international efforts to fight ISIL and all the terrorist groups who endanger regional and global stability”, after a second US journalist was beheaded.
“The outrageous murder of the American journalist Steven Sotloff is another demonstration of the ISIL's determination to pursue and extend its terror strategy”, said a spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton in a press release. Islamic State, which had previously claimed the murder of US journalist James Foley on 19 August, carried out its threats to kill Sotloff in response to US air support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces being maintained - forces which have inflicted a setback on the jihadists in recent days.
“This atrocity, like the considerable number of other human rights violations for which ISIL claims responsibility, is an affront to universally recognised values and rights”, says Ashton's spokesperson. “The EU supports the Human Rights Council in its endeavour to investigate those crimes and underlines the need to spare no effort to ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable”, Ashton's spokesperson adds. (LC)