What's this? This is an unbiased just-the-facts news timeline ('newsline') about Alan Henning, created by Newslines contributors. Become a contributor
20 postsAlan Henning was a British humanitarian aid worker born in 1967, who was murdered by the Islamic Sate (ISIS). He was captured during ISIS’s occupation of the Syrian city of Al-Dana in December 2013, where he was helping with humanitarian relief. He was seen at the end of Davis Haines’ execution video in September 2013. A video of Henning’s beheading was released by the group on October 3, 2014.
Henning’s wife, Barbara, says the family has ‘few words to describe how we feel at this moment.’ Statement via the Foreign Office:
We always knew that Alan was in the most dangerous of situations but we hoped that he would return home to us. That is not to be.
Clegg tweets statements:
Sincere condolences to Alan Henning’s family. Barbaric actions of ISIL are held in complete contempt. We are resolved to defeat this evil.
Alan Henning was a man moved to selflessly help those most in need and we should remember that above all else at this difficult time.
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) October 3, 2014
Cameron releases a statement:
The brutal murder of Alan Henning by Isil shows just how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are. My thoughts and prayers tonight are with Alan’s wife Barbara, their children and all those who loved him. Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need. The fact that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these Isil terrorists. We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice.
The Foreign Office releases a statement:
We are aware of the video and are working urgently to verify the contents. If true, this is a further disgusting murder. We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time.
Kassig is threatened at the end of the video of Henning’s death. ISIS militant:
Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of the Sham which keeps on striking our people. So, it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people.
A video released by ISIS appears to show the killing of Henning. Henning speaks briefly to the camera as he kneels by a masked jihadist.
I’m Alan Henning. Because of our parliament’s decision to attack the Islamic State I, as a member of the British public, will now pay the price for that decision
The British-accented jihadist, nicknamed ‘Jihadi John’ appears in the video and declares that Mr Henning’s ‘blood is on the hands of the British parliament’.
The blood of David Haines is on your hands, Cameron. Alan Henning will also be slaughtered but his blood is on the hands of the British parliament
A Twitter user who has offered previously credible accounts of ISIS activities says a captive dressed in an orange jumpsuit was driven to a hill near Raqqa where Foley was beheaded. Roads are sealed, and a man with a knife is present. @Raqqa_SI:
We believe it’s the same person who executed the reporters before.
The killing takes place at 7:50 a.m. local time (00:50 Eastern time):
Isis beheaded this captive at 7:50 am and many cars went with them, one of cars were carrying a big TV camera in it
The Twitter user says two more cameras captured the killing, and another prisoner is readied to appear in a video:
We notice a Nissan red station and a black 4×4, in this black car there was another captive who was protected with many Isis troop
Barbara Henning’s full statement to ISISs via the Foreign Office is released:
Second part of Barbara Henning's statement pic.twitter.com/rDz934CQ9P
— Stuart Millar (@stuartmillar159) September 23, 2014
Henning’s wife says an ISIS court has found him innocent. Barbara:
I have been told that he has been to a Sharia court and found innocent of being a spy and declared to be no threat. I implore Islamic State to abide by the decisions of their own justice system.
Henning’s wife confirms she has received an audio recording of him pleading for his life.
I and people representing me continue to reach out to those holding Alan. Islamic State continue to ignore our pleas to open dialogue.
Henning’s wife pleads with ISIS to release him. Message sent via the Foreign Office:
Alan is a peaceful, selfless man who left his family and his job as a taxi driver in the UK to drive in a convoy all the way to Syria with his Muslim colleagues and friends to help those most in need. When he was taken he was driving an ambulance full of food and water to be handed out to anyone in need. His purpose for being there was no more and no less. This was an act of sheer compassion. I cannot see how it could assist any state’s cause to allow the world to see a man like Alan dying.
Henning says in a video that his trips to Syria have made a difference to war refugees:
It’s all worthwhile when you see what is needed, as you get where it needs to go. That makes it all worthwhile. No sacrifice we do is nothing compared to what they are going through every day.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says the UK is unable to send SAS troops to free Henning as MI6 ‘don’t know where he is’:
If we knew where he was we would be able to look at all sorts of options. We have considered every possible option to support these kidnap victims, both British and others. If we knew where they were it would be a different story. We are doing everything we can to protect him but they understand the limitations of our abilities and that we are dealing with a very barbaric organisation whose values are completely different from ours.
He extends sympathy to Henning’s wife and two teenage daughters, who live in Eccles, Salford:
We understand Mr Henning’s family are going through hell.
U.S. journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem, a film-maker who has reported extensively from Syria, says he interviewed a commander of the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda, who confronted ISIS to demand the release of Henning. Kareem says ‘anyone of any influence,’ including Al Qaeda, has sought to intervene on behalf of Haines, as he was a volunteer seeking to help Muslim refugees in the town of Dana and his abduction is ‘wrong under Islamic law’:
Four days after he was captured, the emir went to Al-Dana and said: ‘Look, what you are doing is wrong. You have no business what you are doing. You have no right to abduct him. You have no reason to detain him just because he is not Muslim’.
There were initial hopes that Henning would be released:
But then Henning was removed from his prison in Al-Dana and never heard of again.
The organizer of the British volunteer convoy that Henning was traveling with when he was kidnapped by ISIS militants says that he was dedicated to aid work in Syria. Bolton aid worker Kasim Jameel:
Alan is an amazing guy. He is the best of the best. He is my best friend and I am praying for him. He loved the cause so much that when he went to Turkey on holiday with his family, he had a big tattoo across his arm saying ‘aid for Syria’ – he was that dedicated. The cause had literally changed his life around – it meant that much to him.
The hostage threatened by ISIS in its videotaped execution of British aid worker Haines is identified as 47-year-old Alan Henning, a taxi driver from the northwest of England. Friends of Henning who were also captured but later released say an aid convoy they were traveling with was stopped by masked gunmen after crossing the Turkish border and Henning was separated from the others. His disappearance has previously been kept secret by his family at the advice of the British Foreign Office (FCO) while negotiations are made for his release.
ISIS releases a video showing the execution of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines. In the video, titled ‘A Message To The Allies of America’, Haines is shown kneeling on a bare hillside under the open sky in a landscape that appears identical to those where journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley were executed. He reads from a script:
I would like to declare that I hold you, David Cameron, entirely responsible for my execution. You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State. Unfortunately, it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament’s selfish decisions.
A black-clad executioner then issues a threat against another British hostage, a man identified as Alan Henning. The man’s voice and his distinctive London accent are similar to those of the same person who appeared in the videotaped executions of Sotloff and Foley. He threatens Prime Minister David Cameron:
If you, Cameron, persist in fighting the Islamic State, then you, like your master Obama, will have the blood of your people on your hands.
He says that the Western allies have no chance of winning:
Your evil alliance with America which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha Dam will only accelerate your destruction and playing the role of the obedient lapdog Cameron, will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war.
Henning is abducted 30 minutes after the aid convoy he is traveling with crosses the border from Turkey into Syria, a journey of only four miles. He had insisted on joining the convoy of former NHS ambulances delivering defibrillators, stethoscope sand oxygen to a hospital in Idlib instead of remaining at home in Eccles, Greater Manchester, with his wife and two children. Convoy organiser Kasim Jameel, a taxi driver from Bolton:
Alan is a man who is full of compassion and we are just praying to Allah that he is released safe and sound. We are liaising with the authorities and we do not want to say anything which might put him in any further jeopardy or which will inflame the situation. I could tell a lot of stories about the good that Alan has done and about how, as a non Muslim, he has helped Muslims who have suffered in the conflict. He is motivated to help others – not just by helping the convoy but by loads of other things as well. He is the nicest of nice guys who has done so much to help other people. He is just a normal bloke, an everyday taxi driver who wanted to do good. We are thinking about him all the time and praying that he will be allowed home to his family.
Volunteers from the Greater Manchester area join an aid convoy of 20 former NHS ambulances to a hospital in Idlib in northwestern Syria. The convoy leaves Oakley Avenue in Great Lever, Bolton, to make the 4,000-mile journey to deliver the ambulances loaded with medical equipment that includes defibrillators, stethoscopes and oxygen content. Volunteer Kasim Jameel, from Farnworth, organised the convoy along with eight other volunteers from Bolton and the UK Arab Society. The group includes taxi driver Alan Henning, from Eccles in Greater Manchester. The trip is made in memory of Abbas Khan, the UK orthopedic surgeon who was arrested by Abbas security forces and died in custody earlier in December. The group carry signs saying ‘RIP Abbas Khan’ and one saying ‘Syria is calling we will answer’.
