A beheading video is a form of

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loa ...

or snuff video in which hostages are graphically

decapitated Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

. It is often employed by groups seeking to instill shock or terror into a population, whilst beheading has been a widely employed public execution method since the ancient

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in Italy, ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

s, videos of this type only began to arise in 2002 with the beheading of

Daniel Pearl Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.' Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...

and the growth of the Internet in the

Information Age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during ...

which allowed groups to anonymously publish these videos for public consumption. The beheadings shown in these videos are usually ''not'' performed in a "classical" method – decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed t ...

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

– but by the relatively slow and torturous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evide ...

. Despite the number of groups and ideologies that employ this form of propaganda, the process is overwhelmingly associated with Islamist extremists.

History

The first beheading by the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty was of

in 2002. The videos were popularized in 2004 by

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a t ...

, a radical Islamic militant. The videos caused controversy among Islamic scholars, some of whom denounced them as against Islamic law;

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

did not approve and Osama bin Laden considered them poor public relations. Regardless, they became popular with certain Islamic terrorist groups, such as the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

. Early videos were grainy and unsophisticated, but, according to the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', had by 2004 been "growing in sophistication, using animated graphics and editing techniques apparently aimed at embellishing the audio to make a victim's final moments seem more disturbing". These videos are often uploaded to the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

by terrorists, then discussed and distributed by web-based outlets, such as

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

shock site A shock site is a website that is intended to be offensive or disturbing to its viewers, though it can also contain elements of humor or evoke (in some viewers) sexual arousal. Shock-oriented websites generally contain material such as pornogr ...

s, and traditional journalistic media. After a beheading video by a Mexican drug cartel spread virally on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

, the

Family Online Safety Institute The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is an international nonprofit organization. It is registered as a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity in the United States and a registered charity in the United Kingdom. FOSI was founded in F ...

petitioned to have it removed. Initially, Facebook refused to remove the video, then did so, and subsequently clarified their policies, stating that beheading videos would only be allowed if posted in a manner intended for its users to "condemn" the acts. Writing in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'',

Simon Cottee Simon Cottee is an academic who works as a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent, and is a regular contributor to ''The Atlantic''. He previously worked at Bangor University and the University of the West Indies' Trinidad campus ...

drew a comparison between jihadist videos and gonzo pornography.

Videos released

1999

* An unidentified

Russian soldier The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...

beheaded in 1996 in Chechnya by resistance fighters * One officer and five enlisted men in the

Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

were decapitated on film during the

Tukhchar massacre The Tukhchar massacre was an incident during the War of Dagestan which was filmed and distributed on tape, in which Russian prisoners of war were executed. Throughout the war, Russian soldiers reported finding taped executions of Russian offic ...

on September 5th, 1999.

2002

, U.S. citizen, beheaded February 1, 2002, in Pakistan by

jihadists * A video (published in July 2002 by the FSB) shows a woman being beheaded by alleged henchmen of Chechen commander

Movsar Barayev Movsar Buharovich Barayev (Suleimanov) (russian: Мовсар Бухарович Бараев; October 26, 1979 – October 26, 2002), earlier known as Suleimanov, was a Chechen Islamist militia leader during the Second Chechen War, who le ...

2004

* Nick Berg, U.S. citizen, beheaded May 7, 2004, in Iraq by Muntada al-Ansar jihadists *

Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr. Paul Marshall Johnson Jr. (May 8, 1955 – ) was an American helicopter engineer who lived in Saudi Arabia. In 2004, he was taken hostage by militants and his murder was recorded on video tape. Background Johnson was born in Eagleswood Township ...

, U.S. citizen, beheaded in June 2004 in Saudi Arabia by al-Qaeda jihadists *

Kim Sun-il Kim Sun-il (13 September 1970) was a South Korean interpreter and Christian missionary who was kidnapped and murdered in Iraq. Early life and education Kim was born in a poor family and his biological mother died when he was nine years old. H ...

, South Korean citizen, beheaded in June 2004 in Iraq by jihadists of

Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad ( en, Group of Monotheism and Jihad), which may be abbreviated as JTJ or Jama'at, was a Islamic extremist Salafi jihadist terrorist group. It was founded in Jordan in 1999 and was led by Jordanian national Abu Musab ...

(JTJ) *

Georgi Lazov Members of the Iraqi insurgency began taking foreign hostages in Iraq beginning in April 2004. Since then, in a dramatic instance of Islamist kidnapping they have taken captive more than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis; among them, dozens o ...

, Bulgarian citizen, beheaded in July 2004 in Iraq by JTJ jihadists *

Mohammed Mutawalli Members of the Iraqi insurgency (Iraq War), Iraqi insurgency began taking foreign hostages in Iraq beginning in April 2004. Since then, in a dramatic instance of Islamist kidnapping they have taken captive more than 200 foreigners and thousands of ...

, Egyptian citizen, beheaded in August 2004 in Iraq by JTJ jihadists * One Nepali citizen, beheaded in August 2004 in Iraq by JTJ jihadists * Eugene Armstrong, U.S. citizen, beheaded in September 2004 in Iraq by JTJ jihadists *

Jack Hensley Members of the Iraqi insurgency began taking foreign hostages in Iraq beginning in April 2004. Since then, in a dramatic instance of Islamist kidnapping they have taken captive more than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis; among them, dozens o ...

, U.S. citizen, beheaded in September 2004 in Iraq by JTJ jihadists *

Kenneth Bigley Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

, British citizen, beheaded on October 7, 2004 in Iraq by JTJ jihadists *

Shosei Koda was a Japanese citizen who was kidnapped and later beheaded in Iraq on 29 October 2004, by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group, while touring the country. He was the first Japanese person beheaded in Iraq. Early life and education Koda's parents, Sets ...

, Japanese citizen, beheaded on October 29, 2004, in Iraq by jihadists of

al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...

2005–2013

* Shamil Odamanov, Russian citizen of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North ...

i descent. Odamanov was beheaded in 2007 by Russian neo-Nazis. * Nikolay Melnik, Kazakhstani citizen, beheaded July 18, 2008, in Podyachevo, Russia by his fellow neo-Nazi Konstantin Nikiforenko of the NSO-North * Piotr Stańczak, Polish citizen, beheaded on February 7, 2009, in Pakistan by Tehreek-e-Taliban jihadists * A Tunisian man was beheaded for converting to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

2014

* Aytemir Salimgereev, Russian citizen, beheaded in July 2014 in Russia by Vilayat Dagestan jihadists * James Foley, U.S. citizen, beheaded August 19, 2014, south of

Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Rom ...

, Syria by jihadists of the

(ISIL) * Four Egyptians, beheaded in August 2014 in

Sheikh Zuweid Sheikh Zuweid (also spelled Sheikh Zoweid, Shaykh Zuwayd, or Sheikh Zouède; ar, الشيخ زويد , , Greek: ''Bitulion'') is a Bedouin town in the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt near the border with the Gaza Strip. It is situated bet ...

, by

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABM; ar, أَنْصَارُ بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِس, Anṣār Bayt al-Maqdis, lit=Supporters of the Holy House), or Ansar Al-Quds (), was a jihadist, extremist militant group based in Egypt. Ansar Bait al-Maqdis ...

jihadists * Steven Sotloff, U.S. citizen, beheaded in August 2014, south of Raqqa, Syria by ISIL jihadists *

David Cawthorne Haines David Cawthorne Haines (9 May 1970 – 13 September 2014) was a British aid worker who was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in early 2013 and beheaded in early September 2014. Early life and career Haines was born in ...

, U.K. citizen, beheaded in September 2014 in Syria by ISIL jihadists * Hervé Gourdel, French citizen, beheaded in September 2014, east of Algiers, Algeria by Jund al-Khilafah jihadists supporting ISIL *

Alan Henning Alan Henning (15 August 1967 – ) was an English taxicab driver-turned-volunteer humanitarian aid worker. He was the fourth Western hostage killed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) whose killing was publicised in a beheading vi ...

, U.K. citizen, beheaded in October 2014, in Syria by ISIL jihadists *

Peter Kassig Peter Edward Kassig (February 19, 1988 – November 16, 2014), also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, was an American aid worker who was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Early life and education Kassig was born and raised in I ...

, U.S, citizen beheaded in November 2014, in Dabiq, Aleppo, Syria by ISIL jihadists * Eighteen Syrian soldiers of the

Syrian Arab Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six ...

, beheaded in November 2014, in Dabiq, Aleppo, Syria by ISIL jihadists

2015

Haruna Yukawa Haruna may refer to: Geography * Haruna, Gunma, a town in Gunma prefecture, Japan * Mount Haruna, a dormant volcano in Gunma, eastern Honshu, Japan ** Lake Haruna, a lake on Mount Haruna Names *Haruna (name) Haruna is both a feminine Japanese ...

, Japanese citizen, beheaded in January 2015 by ISIL jihadists. *

Kenji Goto was a Japanese freelance video journalist covering wars and conflicts, refugees, poverty, AIDS, and child education around the world. In October 2014, he was captured and held hostage by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants after en ...

, Japanese citizen, beheaded in January 2015 near Raqqa, Syria, by ISIL jihadists. * Twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians, beheaded in February 2015 near

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli (; ar, طرابلس الغرب, translit= Ṭarābulus al-Gharb , translation=Western Tripoli) is the capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.1 million people in 2019. It is located in the northwest of Libya o ...

, by ISIL jihadists * Twenty-eight Ethiopian Christians, beheaded in Libya in April 2015 by ISIL jihadists *A video (article published July 2015) shows a boy executing a Syrian Arab Army soldier using a knife, while within

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early seco ...

*Four

Kurd ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

ish

Peshmerga The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiarie ...

members, beheaded in Iraq in October 2015 by ISIL jihadists

2016

* John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Canadian citizens, beheaded in April 2016 and June 2016 respectively in the Philippines by

Abu Sayyaf Abu Sayyaf (; ar, جماعة أبو سياف; ', ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is ba ...

jihadists. * Abdullah Tayseer Al Issa, Palestinian citizen, beheaded in July 2016 in Syria by

Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement The Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement ( ar, حركة نور الدين الزنكي ''Ḥaraka Nūr ad-Dīn az-Zankī'') was a Sunni Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War. In 2014, it was reportedly one of the most influential factions ...

rebels, allegedly of the

Liwa al-Quds Liwa al-Quds ( ar, لواء القدس) or the Jerusalem Brigade is a predominantly Palestinian militia (brigade) that operates as a part of pro-Syrian government forces in the Syrian Civil War. It was formed in 2013 by the engineer Muhammad al-S ...

: this incident precipitated the end of

Timber Sycamore Timber Sycamore was a classified weapons supply and training program run by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and supported by some Arab intelligence services, including Saudi intelligence. Launched in 2012 or 2013, it supplied ...

in Syria

2017

* Jürgen Kantner, German citizen, beheaded in March 2017 in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf jihadists. *Muhammad "Hamadi" Abdullah al-Ismail, Syrian citizen who allegedly deserted the Syrian Arab Army, tortured with a sledgehammer and beheaded near the al-Shaer oil fields,

Homs Governorate Homs Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حمص / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its area differs in various sources, from to . It is thus geographic ...

, Syria (the first footage appeared online in June 2017) by Russian mercenaries linked to the

Wagner Group The Wagner Group (russian: Группа Вагнера, Gruppa Vagnera), also known as PMC Wagner ( «Вагнер», ChVK «Vagner»; ), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), ...

2018

* A young man was decapitated by Tirso Meleán gang after robbing a ranch * Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, Danish citizen, and Maren Ueland, Norwegian citizen, beheaded in December 2018, in Morocco by alleged ISIL jihadists

2019

*Ayafor Florence, Cameroonian citizen who worked as a wardress at the Bamenda Central Prison, beheaded on September 29, 2019 in Pinyin, Northwest Region, Cameroon by

Ambazonia Ambazonia, officially the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, also referred to as Amba Land, is an unrecognised breakaway state in West Africa which claims the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon, though it currently controls almost ...

n militants

2021

*An Afghan soldier was killed by the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pas ...

before they filmed a video showing his severed head being held by his hair. *An Egyptian man beheaded a victim and wandered in the street while holding up the severed head in broad daylight.

2022

* Murder of Kanhaiya Lal, a Hindu tailor was murdered during an attempted beheading following the

2022 Muhammad remarks controversy The 2022 Muhammad remarks row began on 27 May 2022, when Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman of India's ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), insinuated that the Islamic Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile, on a Times Now debate on the Gyanvap ...

in India. The two Muslim perpetrators recorded themselves committing the crime but fled from the scene after slicing the victim's throat.

Hoax

A hoax beheading video filmed by Benjamin Vanderford, Robert Martin, and Laurie Kirchner in 2004 received wide attention by the American press. The video used

's logo, but not the group's flag. It was originally filmed for Vanderford's local election campaign. He was seeking

Matt Gonzalez Matthew Edward Gonzalez (born June 4, 1965) is an American politician, lawyer, and activist. He served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2001 and 2005 and was president of the Board. In 2003, Gonzalez, running as a member of the G ...

's seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Vanderford's second intention was to point out how uncritically the mainstream media would accept an anonymous video. The Islamic Global Media Center claimed to have made the video, but removed it from their website after the hoax was discovered. The video also appeared on other militant websites and was broadcast on Arabic television.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

"Ben Vanderford Hoax Video"
-

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was ...

* Jones, Ronald H
"Terrorist Beheadings: Cultural and Strategic Implications"
Hosted at Air University Beheading videos * Propaganda techniques by medium Psychological warfare techniques Terrorism tactics Jihadist propaganda