Former employer of beheaded journalist said captors sent final email threatening to kill him

The former employer of James Foley has claimed that the beheaded American journalist’s captors sent a final email warning that he would be killed unless financial and political demands were met.

GlobalPost CEO Philip Balboni said the Foley family received the email shortly after the US commenced airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants in Iraq.

“Obviously we hoped and prayed that that would not be the case and we communicated as quickly as we could with the captors, pleaded with them for mercy,” he said.

“We explained to them that Jim was an innocent journalist who had done no harm to the Syrian people.”

Mr Balboni said that communication between GlobalPost, the Foley family and his captors began last autumn expressing anger and rage against the United States.

“They were deadly serious,” Mr Balboni said.

He said GlobalPost had spent millions of dollars trying to locate and free Foley, but would not confirm whether the company had offered a ransom to secure his release.

“Jim Foley was an incredibly brave journalist and an incredibly brave man, right to the horrible end of his life,” Mr Balboni said.

“Jim represented the best of the profession of journalism and what it can be and what it should be in its finest hour.”