James Foley Not Likely Killed By Jihadist In Clip At Time It Was Shot, According To Visual Forensics Expert

The masked and robed executioner with a British accent, seen in the notorious “A Message to America” video of a captive journalist James Foley prior to his alleged beheading, might not have committed the actual deed, according to a visual forensics expert.

Aymenn al-Tamimi, who’s with the think tank Middle East Forum, told the UK’s The Times that the man was likely not the executioner; and Foley was not likely beheaded directly after the clip was shot, as depicted in the despicable vignette. (Foley is presumed dead, just not as how it was depicted in the video.)

“My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped,” al-Tamimi told the paper, citing details such as the supposed jihadist’s posture and Foley’s movements in the widely-seen footage.

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He said that even the language involved could have been a deliberate gambit on ISIS’s (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) part to further their political agenda.

“They show it’s an English guy because he is English-speaking for an English-speaking audience,” al-Tamimi said. “It sends a message to both the U.K. and the U.S. who are intervening at this stage in some way in the conflict.

"I think it sends a powerful message that it doesn’t matter where you are from, your allegiance is with the Islamic State and one day the Islamic State will encompass the entire world in terms of their thinking.”

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The speculation comes after unconfirmed reports that Abdel Majed Abdel Bary, a rapper with English roots, is the masked man in the clip responsible for the journalist’s death.

As we previously reported, the 40-year-old journalist — who was kidnapped Nov. 22, 2012 in Syria — was compelled to read a diatribe in which he said that his “real killers” were “the U.S. government,” and that he wished he “wasn’t American;” after which, the New Hampshire native’s detached head was shown.