James Foley’s mother has said she met his killer because her son would have wanted her to. 

The 40-year-old American was beheaded by Islamic State in 2014, two years after he was kidnapped while working as a journalist in Syria.

The group posted a video of his murder on Twitter titled ‘Message to America’.

For years, Mr Foley had worked throughout the Middle East, filing reports as conflict ripped through the region.

“I had no idea how dangerous it was to be a freelancer,” Mr Foley’s mother, Diane, told The Pat Kenny Show.

“He had no security detail [because of his] very small budget.

“They often stayed in the cheapest places and it was very dangerous work.”

In 2012, Mr Foley was seized by militants and the family’s long nightmare began.

“We did not even know if he was alive,” Ms Foley said.

“For nine months after his kidnapping, everything was quiet.

“[There were] many rumours but we had no idea who had actually taken him.

“So, it wasn’t until the fall when we received the first email from the captors, demanding either an exchange in prisoners or €100 million.”

Diane Foley with Pat Kenny. 19/02/2024. Image: Newstalk

It turned out paying the ransom was not an option.

The US Government does not pay ransoms, arguing to do so would fund terrorism and incentivise further kidnappings.

It also bans families from paying the ransom themselves and the Foleys were warned they could be prosecuted if they tried to raise money to do so.

“When we found out he was alive, we had such hope and then that following year when the French came out and the Spanish, we were filled with hope,” Ms Foley said.

“I had been continually reassured that Jim was our government’s highest priority.

“I was quite naive and really trusted that our Government was negotiating for him.”

Justice

Seven years after Mr Foley’s death, two men, El Shafee El Sheikh and Alexanda Kotey, were convicted for their part in his murder.

The pair had grown up in Britain and were nicknamed ‘the Beatles’ because of their English accents.

The British Government have since stripped them of their citizenship and both are now serving life in the US prison system.

After Kotey was sentenced, Ms Foley was given the opportunity to meet with him.

“I knew Jim would not have wanted me to be afraid of him,” she said.

“And Jim would have talked to him and wanted to hear his side of the story.

“I also wanted to tell him who Jim was, to humanise Jim for him because I really feel for Alexanda, Jim was just a symbol of any mistake our country has ever [made] in the world.”

In total, Ms Foley met with her son’s killer three times and found he had a “self-assurance about him”.

“He did want to tell why he did what he did, that it was in the fog of war and he was a soldier and he wanted me to hear his reasons,” she said.

Despite this, Kotey expressed remorse for what he had put the Foley family through and showed her pictures of his own children.

'Our country could do better'

Ms Foley also met then-US President Obama – who was drinking tea when the family arrived but never offered them any.

“I was honoured to meet him, of course,” she said.

“But I was incredibly disappointed in how I had been treated as an American citizen.

“I felt very strongly that our country could do better, in terms of having the backs of innocent Americans who were taken hostage, like our son was.”

Ms Foley has written about her son’s life, death and the struggle for justice afterwards in a memoir, American Mother, which she co-authored with Irish writer Colum McCann.

Main image: Diane and James Foley. Picture by: Diane Foley.