Beheading video

A beheading video is a type of propaganda video in which hostages are graphically decapitated.

The first beheading video was of Daniel Pearl in 2002.

The videos were popularized in 2004 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a radical Islamic militant.

The videos caused controversy among Islamic scholars, some of whom denounced them as against Islamic law; Al-Qaeda did not approve and Osama bin Laden considered them poor public relations. Regardless, they became popular with certain Islamic terrorist groups, such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The beheadings shown in these videos are usually not performed in a "classical" method – decapitating a victim quickly with a blow from a sword or axe – but by the relatively slow and tortuous process of slicing and sawing the victim's neck, while still alive, with a knife.

Early videos were grainy and unsophisticated, but, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, have been "growing in sophistication, using animated graphics and editing techniques apparently aimed at embellishing the audio to make a victim's final moments seem more disturbing". These videos are often uploaded to the World Wide Web by terrorists, then discussed and distributed by web-based outlets, such as blogs, shock sites, and traditional journalistic media. After a beheading video by a Mexican drug cartel spread virally on Facebook, the Family Online Safety Institute petitioned to have it removed. Initially, Facebook refused to remove the video, then did so, and subsequently clarified their policies, stating that beheading videos would only be allowed if posted in a manner intended for its users to "condemn" the acts.

Writing in The Atlantic, Simon Cottee drew a comparison between jihadist videos and gonzo pornography.

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