U.S. journalist's mother pleads with Islamic State: 'My son, Steven, is in your hands'

According Steven Sotloff is being held captive by ISIS, and his grief-stricken mother begged leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to spare his life in a videotaped address that was broadcast on the Al Arabiya Network. The anguished mother of captured U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff pleaded Wednesday with the barbarian holding her son to spare his life and set him free.

“He’s an innocent journalist,” Shirley Sotloff said in a videotaped address to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that was broadcast on the Al Arabiya network.

Addressing the murderous ISIS chief as “the caliph of the Islamic State,” the Florida mom said, “My son, Steven, is in your hands.”

“I ask you to use your authority to spare his life and to set the example of the Prophet Mohammed, who protected people of the Book,” she said. “I want what every mother wants: to live to see her children's children. I plead with you to grant me this."

Shirley Sotloff made her heartfelt plea a week after an ISIS thug beheaded another American reporter, James Foley, and warned in the videotaped execution that 31-year-old Sotloff would be next.

Sotloff’s mom insisted her son “traveled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants. Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson, she said. He’s an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak. We've not seen Steven for over a year and we miss him very much. We want to see him home safe and sound and to hug him. Sotloff, she added, “has no control over the actions of the U.S. government.”