Murdered journalist James Foley abused by Islamic State for having brother in US military

Former fellow hostages have paid tribute to Foley, who was a 'pillar of the group' despite facing added abuse when Islamic State terrorists learnt of his brother

Horrific: A masked Islamic State militant holding a knife speaking next to man said to be James Foley

Executed journalist James Foley was singled out by his Islamic State captors after they found photos of his US Air Force brother on his laptop.

American Mr Foley, 40, was forced to address logistics officer John, 35, in a video denouncing US air strikes on IS targets before he was killed.

A second brother, Mark, is also in the US military but the kidnappers appeared not to know about him.

Former fellow hostage Didier Francois said Mr Foley was a “pillar of the group” who “never cracked even under the most difficult conditions”. The French journalist added: “He was an extraordinary guy, an extremely nice companion in detention, very solid.”

A second freed French hostage, Nicolas Henin, said Mr Foley was seen as “some kind of scapegoat” by his captors.

Yesterday it emerged the US had refused to pay an £80million ransom demanded by the IS militants for the release of Mr Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012. The White House said an attempt by US Special Forces to rescue Mr Foley and others failed despite “what we believed was sufficient intelligence”.

Apart from ransoms, terror leaders have demanded prisoner swaps to bring about the release of hostages.

Those they want released include Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist with ties to al-Qaeda. He is in jail in Texas.

The sister of Steven Sotloff, 31, who appeared at the end Mr Foley’s video and is one of three remaining US hostages, has begged Mr Obama to do everything he can to keep her brother alive.