Kidnapping and murder of Kenneth Bigley
Kenneth BigleyKen BigleyBigleyKenneth John "Ken" BigleyKenneth John Bigley
Kenneth John Bigley (22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004) was a British civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both United States citizens.wikipedia

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Beheading video
a videobeheading videosbeheadings are videotaped
A second beheading video was released on 22 September by Bigley's captors, this time showing Bigley pleading for his life and begging British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save him.
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
Tawhid and JihadAl-Tawhid Wal-JihadJama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad
On 18 September, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") Islamic extremist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner.




Rihab Taha
Rihab Rashid TahaRihab al-Taha
The British government issued a statement saying it held no Iraqi women prisoners, and that the only two women known to be in US custody were two so-called high-profile Iraqi scientists, British-educated Rihab Taha and US-educated Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash.
On 18 September 2004, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Holy War") Islamist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, kidnapped Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, and British engineer Kenneth Bigley, threatening to kill them if Iraqi women prisoners were not released.


Margaret Hassan
The same high-coverage news strategy was absent in the case of Margaret Hassan, an aid worker, who held British, Iraqi and Irish citizenship, who was kidnapped on 19 October 2004 and killed two weeks later.
She stated that "these might be [her] last hours", "Please help me. The British people, tell Mr Tony Blair to take the troops out of Iraq and not bring them here to Baghdad", and that she did not "want to die like Mr Bigley", a reference to Kenneth Bigley, who had been murdered in Iraq only weeks earlier.
Shosei Koda
Koda's captors stated that they would "treat him like his predecessors Berg and Bigley" (Bigley was murdered just weeks before by the organization, before being known as Al Qaeda in Iraq) if Japan did not withdraw its forces from Iraq within 48 hours.

The Spectator
SpectatorThe Spectator AustraliaSpectator USA
Boris Johnson, then-editor of The Spectator, was criticised for an editorial which appeared in the magazine on 16 October 2004 following the death of Bigley in Iraq, in which it was claimed that the response to Bigley's killing was fuelled by the fact he was from Liverpool, and went on to criticize the "drunken" fans at Hillsborough and call on them to accept responsibility for their "role" in the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989:
In October 2004, a Spectator editorial suggested that the death of the hostage Kenneth Bigley was being over-sentimentalized by the people of Liverpool, accusing them of indulging in a "vicarious victimhood" and of possessing a "deeply unattractive psyche".’ Johnson had not written the leader but, as editor, took full responsibility for it.

Hillsborough disaster
HillsboroughHillsborough Independent PanelHillsborough football disaster
Boris Johnson, then-editor of The Spectator, was criticised for an editorial which appeared in the magazine on 16 October 2004 following the death of Bigley in Iraq, in which it was claimed that the response to Bigley's killing was fuelled by the fact he was from Liverpool, and went on to criticize the "drunken" fans at Hillsborough and call on them to accept responsibility for their "role" in the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989:
The Spectator was criticised for an editorial which appeared in the magazine on 16 October 2004 following the death of British hostage Kenneth John "Ken" Bigley in Iraq, in which it was claimed that the response to Bigley's killing was fuelled by the fact he was from Liverpool, and went on to criticise the "drunken" fans at Hillsborough and call on them to accept responsibility for their "role" in the disaster:









Nick Berg
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Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.Paul JohnsonPaul M. Johnson

Piotr Stańczak
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Kidnapping
kidnapkidnappedabduction
Kenneth John Bigley (22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004) was a British civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both United States citizens.



Mansour district
MansourAl MansourAl-Adel Neighborhood
Kenneth John Bigley (22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004) was a British civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both United States citizens.


Baghdad
Baghdad, IraqBagdadBaghdād
Kenneth John Bigley (22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004) was a British civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both United States citizens.









Decapitation
beheadeddecapitatedbeheading
All were subsequently kidnapped and beheaded.









Jihad
holy warjihādoffensive jihad
On 18 September, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") Islamic extremist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner.




Islamic extremism
Islamic extremistIslamic extremistsradical Islam
On 18 September, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") Islamic extremist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
al-ZarqawiAbu Musab al ZarqawiZarqawi
On 18 September, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") Islamic extremist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner.






Coalition of the willing
CoalitionCoalition ForcesCoalition troops
The kidnappers said they would kill the men within 48 hours if their demands for the release of Iraqi women prisoners held by coalition forces were not met.
Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Council of Great BritainMCBMuslim Council of Britain (MCB)
Armstrong was killed on 20 September when the deadline expired, Hensley 24 hours later, and Bigley over two weeks later, despite the attempted intervention of the Muslim Council of Britain and the indirect intervention of the British government.
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign SecretarySecretary of State for Foreign AffairsBritish Foreign Secretary
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Prime Minister Tony Blair personally contacted the Bigley family several times to assure them that everything possible was being done, short of direct negotiation with the kidnappers.

Jack Straw
Straw The Right Honourable '''Jack StrawThe Right Honourable '''Jack Straw
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Prime Minister Tony Blair personally contacted the Bigley family several times to assure them that everything possible was being done, short of direct negotiation with the kidnappers.





Tony Blair
BlairTonyPrime Minister Tony Blair
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Prime Minister Tony Blair personally contacted the Bigley family several times to assure them that everything possible was being done, short of direct negotiation with the kidnappers.









Special Air Service
SASBritish SAS22 Special Air Service Regiment
It was also reported that a Special Air Service (SAS) team had been placed on standby in Iraq in the event that a rescue mission might become possible.



