Mother asks IS to release son

In a message released Wednesday, Shirley Sotloff appealed to the self-declared caliph of the "Islamic State" (IS), to take mercy on her son, captured in Iraq in August 2013 and seen again last week when the group threatened him in a video that showed the beheading of the American journalist James Foley. Wednesday's video marked the first public comments by the family since the 31-year-old Steven Sotloff went missing.

"He is an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak," Shirley Sotloff said in her video message to IS. "You, the caliph, can grant amnesty," she added, speaking directly to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "I ask you please to release my child. I ask you to use your authority to spare his life."

US officials say they have worked to secure Sotloff's release. On Wednesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he didn't know whether President Barack Obama had seen Shirley Sotloff's video, but he said the administration had tried to gain release of all Americans held hostage in the Middle East.

"She obviously, as is evident from the video, feels desperate about the safety and well-being of her son, and understandably so, and that is why our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Sotloff's family at this very difficult and trying time," Earnest said on Wednesday.

'A genocide'

The United Nations has accused both IS and Syria's government of crimes against humanity in the country's multifront civil war, which has occasionally spilled over the borders.

IS, which demands an end to US airstrikes in Iraq in exchange for Sotloff's life, also reportedly has a 26-year-old American aid worker. European countries have reportedly paid ransoms to IS for the safe return of their nationals. The United States has generally refused to negotiate with groups it considers terrorists and has continued its air strikes against IS targets in Iraq since Foley's murder.

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the "awful" treatment of minority groups and non-Sunni Muslims by IS was such that "one can speak of a genocide." Merkel said that was why "above all else we have first offered humanitarian aid" for the north of Iraq, before gradually leading towards one of the main points of debate in Berlin in recent weeks: the sending of military equipment to the conflict zone.

Ordinarily, Germany opposes this as a point of principle, but the country is set to make an exception in northern Iraq.

mkg/jm (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)