'Once you lose hope you lose heart... someone tells you ''say this'' and you say it': Australian terror captive says beheading victims would have felt 'compliant' at the end

  • Islamic State militants have murdered two U.S. journalists in the past month
  • James Foley and Steven Sotloff condemned America, believed to have been under heavy coercion
  • Psychologists and an Australian kidnapping victim explains what life is like in captivity after all hope is lost
  • 'Nothing really has meaning to you anymore... Someone tells you "say this" and you say it'
  • 'You just imagine whoever is watching it is smart enough to realise you haven't really got your heart in it'

By Daniel Piotrowski for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 22:13 EST, 2 September 2014 | Updated: 19:53 EST, 3 September 2014


Before they were decapitated by Islamist militants, U.S. journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley both stared down the barrel of the camera and condemned America.

Both men had been held in captivity for more than twelve months and were believed to have been placed under extreme duress. But what would they have been thinking at the time?

One Australian who has been in a similar situation is Warren Rodwell, a 56-year-old Brisbane man who spent 472 days held captive by Filipino militant group Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda militant group.

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Video emerged overnight of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff being beheaded by an Islamic State jihadist.
James Foley was executed by an Islamic State militant two weeks ago.

Journalists Steven Sotloff (left) and James Foley (right) have both been killed by Islamist militants in recent weeks.

Sotloff was pictured in the video delivering message taunting U.S. President Barack Obama. The Arabic text at the bottom of this frame translates to: 'Now is the time for my message'.

Sotloff was pictured in the video delivering message taunting U.S. President Barack Obama. The Arabic text at the bottom of this frame translates to: 'Now is the time for my message'. 

A knife-wielding jihadist stands next to U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff in the video that was released online overnight.

A knife-wielding jihadist stands next to U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff in the video that was released online overnight.

U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff had previously appeared at the end of an IS video showing the decapitation of fellow American journalist James Foley.
The mother of a US journalist still being held captive had previously made a televised plea for her son's life.

U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, 31, (left) was kidnapped in Syria last year. Sotloff's mother Shirley (right) made a televised appeal for the return of her son last week.

Australian Warren Rodwell, pictured in a ransom video with his Abu Sayyaf captors in the Philippines. Mr Rodwell has today shed light on what it is like to be a captive who has lost hope. He spent 472 days in captivity. He was never tortured and has previously described his abductors as 'buffoons'

Australian Warren Rodwell, pictured in a ransom video with his Abu Sayyaf captors in the Philippines. Mr Rodwell has today shed light on what it is like to be a captive who has lost hope. He spent 472 days in captivity. He was never tortured and has previously described his abductors as 'buffoons'

Mr Rodwell, who featured in a number of ransom videos, told Daily Mail Australia he became more compliant after he lost hope.

'Whatever someone wants, you give it to them,' he said. 'You just do what you're told.'

'Nothing really has meaning to you anymore. Someone tells you "say this" and you say it.

'You just imagine whoever is watching it is smart enough to realise you haven't really got your heart in it.

'Once you lose hope you lose heart.'

Psychologists said Mr Foley and Mr Sotloff would have lost all sense of normality while in isolation.

Dr Chris Lennings, a forensic psychologist with more than 30 years experience, said: 'It's unimaginable to me, the amount of psychological pressure that would have been placed on them... particularly given the softening up process that would have taken place.'

'There would have been beatings, threats, sensory deprivation, all sorts of things would have been done to remove any sense of normality, any standard parameters by which they can judge their behaviour.

Psychology professor Mark Creamer, from the University of Melbourne, said the journalists' isolation from the outside world would have taken a heavy toll.
The Islamic State released another beheading video overnight, this time featuring U.S. journalist Steven Soltoff.

The Islamic State released another beheading video overnight, this time featuring U.S. journalist Steven Soltoff.

British ISIS terrorist 'Jihadi John' also killed another American journalist, James Foley (pictured here), a fortnight ago.

British ISIS terrorist 'Jihadi John' also killed another American journalist, James Foley (pictured here), a fortnight ago.

Here, U.S. journalist James Foley speaks to the camera in a desert wasteland prior to his beheading.

Here, U.S. journalist James Foley speaks to the camera in a desert wasteland prior to his beheading.

MOMENTS BEFORE HIS DEATH, STEVEN SOTLOFF'S FINAL WORDS:

A frame from video released by the Islamic State which shows American freelance journalist Steven Sotloff shortly before his execution in an unknown desert location.

This frame from a video released by the Islamic State shows American freelance journalist Steven Sotloff shortly before his execution in an unknown desert location.

A Second Message to America:

'I am Steven Joel Sotloff. I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing before you. And now this is the time for my message:

'Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be the preservation of American lives and interests, so why is that I am paying the price of your interference with my life? Am I not an American citizen? We’ve spent billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars and we’ve lost thousands of our troops in our previous fighting against the Islamic State, so what are the people’s interests in reigniting war?

'From what little I know about foreign policy, I remember a time when you could not win an election without promising to bring our troops back from Iraq and Afghanistan and to close down Guantanamo. Here you are now, Obama, nearing the end of your term, and having achieved none of the above and deceivingly marching us the American people in the blazing fire.'


  
'These people are being placed in an intolerable situation,' he said. 'They're just entirely dependent on what their captors decide to do.'

Terrorism expert Professor Greg Barton, from the Global Terrorism Research Centre at Monash University, said the execution videos were a recruitment tool.

'The primary purpose of these videos is to bolster their efforts at recruiting fighters in western democracies,' Prof Barton said.

Around 5000 fighters from Europe, the U.K., the U.S. and Australia have joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, including former western Sydney residents Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar.

Sharrouf and Elomar caused widespread outrage after posting images on social media of them dangling the decapitated heads of Syrian soldiers.

Reports earlier this week said 40-year-old Australian militant Abu Yahya Ash Shami had even been promoted to a senior military leadership position.

These latest videos show the West appearing weak and Islamist fighters looking strong to encourage vulnerable potential Western recruits to join the Islamic State cause.

'One of IS's major aims is this idea of restoring the dignity to Muslims and the Muslim community.

'Making themselves look strong and making the West look weak feeds into that propaganda.'

The Islamic State has also threatened to kill a Briton held hostage by the group next. Daily Mail Australia is not identifying him at the request of the British government.

FELLOW HOSTAGE JAMES FOLEY'S PURPORTED FINAL WORDS

Freelance journalist James Foley was executed by the Islamic State on August 19.

Freelance journalist James Foley was executed by the Islamic State on August 19.

'I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government.

'For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality.

'My message to my beloved parents: save me some dignity and don’t accept any meagre compensation for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with a recent aerial campaign in Iraq.

'I call on my brother John, who is a member of the US Air Force, think about what you are doing, think about lives you destroy including those of your own family.

'I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been.

'Think John, who did they really kill? And diid they think about me, you or our family when they made that decision?

'I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people – they signed my death certificate.

'I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and see my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American.'


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