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Alan Henning: Second British hostage in Isis beheading video named as ‘kind and funny’ aid worker Alan Henning: Second British hostage in Isis beheading video named as ‘kind and funny’ aid worker
(about 2 hours later)
A second British hostage whose life is in the hands of fanatical terrorists has been named as Alan Henning. The second British hostage whose life is being threatened by Islamist extremists is a volunteer aid worker with two children who left his job as a taxi driver to deliver supplies to Muslim refugees caught up in the Syrian civil war.
Mr Henning, 47, who is thought to be an aid worker, was identified in the same footage that captured the last moments of David Haines, 44, who was beheaded by the Islamic State (Isis). Alan Henning, 47, who is being held by the same Isis terrorists who murdered another British aid worker, David Haines, was captured in December while he was part of an aid convoy near Syria’s border with Turkey.
He was reportedly captured in the Syrian city of Ad-Dana and described himself as hailing from Salford in a conversation with activists that was reported on the website Buzzfeed. Yesterday, David Cameron described Isis fighters as “monsters” not Muslims, as he pledged to “hunt down” those responsible for the acts of brutality against British and American citizens over recent weeks.
Today his family sanctioned the Foreign Office to release of a photo of Mr Henning holding a young child in a refugee camp on the Syrian-Turkish border. Tributes to Mr Haines, whose death was shown on a video posted on the internet on Saturday night, were led by his brother Mike, who quoted the Koran as he warned the poisonous ideology fuelling Isis poses a threat “to the wholesale safety of every person in the world”.
In a series of postings on Twitter, a user known as “SaiyanSyrian” said “Alan Henning is a British aid worker who went to help refugees in Idlib, he was abducted in Al Dana by Isis when they occupied the city. In a statement released by the Foreign Office, Mike Haines said: “We agree with the Government in that Isis are extremely dangerous, and pose a threat to every nation, every religion, every politics and every person.
“This man Isis are threatening to behead is an aid worker who went with a British humanitarian convoy to help Syrians.” “I have become aware of a number of verses in the Koran that I feel are particularly apt at this time, if I may: ‘Since good and evil cannot be equal, repel the evil with something that is better.’”
BBC journalist Catrin Nye, who has reported from the Middle East, also tweeted: “Alan Henning named as second British hostage held and threatened by Isis - a kind and funny man I spent time with last year.” Fears were mounting last night for the safety of Mr Henning, who is believed to have been captured in the city of Ad-Dana by a band of masked men. The 44-year-old is understood to live in Salford with his wife and two children. The Bolton News reported that Mr Henning and eight other volunteers travelled from Bolton to Syria in December. They joined a convoy of 20 vehicles, according to the newspaper.
Mr Henning was reportedly captured by a band of masked men after he ignored advice to enter the war-torn country and complete an aid project, according to journalist Tam Hussein. Catrin Nye, from the BBC Asian Network, who met Mr Henning while he was packing aid convoys in Salford, said he was known as “Gadget” because of a fondness for technology and described him as a “very likeable” and “funny” man. “He had travelled on a convoy, he had been into a refugee camp … and it had been a life-changing experience,” she said. “He had handed out the goods. He described holding the children … and how that really affected him. He told me he had to go back.”
In a series of tweets, the reporter said Mr Henning was separated from other aid workers and taken prisoner around last Christmas. Last night, Mr Henning’s family sanctioned the Foreign Office to release a photo of him holding a young child in a refugee camp on the Syrian-Turkish border.
“Henning was told not (to go into) Syria… but insisted on going in b/c he had put in so much time and effort in the project,” he said. “Henning wanted to make sure aid reached the intended. Henning was genuinely trying to help the Syrian refugee crisis — nothing more. People spoke very highly of him.” Mohamed Elhaddad, company director of the UK Arabic Society who was on two previous convoys with Mr Henning, described him as a passionate humanitarian volunteer. “The first time we went together he was very excited and very emotional. He does a lot for others,” he said.
But he added: “Alan went too far into Syria. He took that extra risk, because he could have accomplished the drop-off at the border. I disagree completely with what is happening to him. Alan is my friend, this is extremely sad for him and his family.”
Yesterday Mr Cameron said Mr Haines had been murdered in the “most callous and brutal way imaginable” by an organisation which was the “embodiment of evil”. He added the Government was ready to take “whatever steps are necessary” to “dismantle and destroy” Isis. Downing Street played down calls for an immediate British military response or a recall of Parliament. Mr Cameron is understood to be waiting until a meeting of the UN General Assembly next week before potentially asking MPs to authorise military action.
More than 30 countries, including 10 Arab states, will meet in Paris today to discuss the proposed US-led alliance to combat Isis.
Mr Cameron made clear the threats made by Isis would only strengthen UK resolve. “They are killing and slaughtering thousands of people across Iraq and Syria. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense. Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims, they are monsters. We have to confront this menace. Step by step, we must drive back, dismantle and ultimately destroy Isis.”
Mr Cameron said the Government was aware that Isis “have planned and continue to plan attacks” in Britain.
He described Mr Haines as a British hero. “He went into harm’s way, not to harm people but to help his fellow human beings in the hour of their direst need,” he said.
“His selflessness, his decency, his burning desire to help others has cost him his life. But the whole country, like his grieving family, can be incredibly proud of what he did and what he stood for.”
Dr Shuja Shafi, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said there was “nothing in our faith that condones such behaviour”.