Video showing a suspected British jihadist
beheading an American journalist in Syria
may have been staged, according to forensic
analysis.
An international forensic science group —
which often works for British police services —
suggested the footage likely does not show
James Foley’s actual killing at the hands of a
masked man from the Islamic State of Iraq
and Al-Sham.
The Times of London commissioned the
company to analyze the video. After making
enhancements, it found no evidence of blood
even when the masked man draws the knife
across Mr. Foley’s neck six times. There was
also no incision visible on his neck, analysts
said.
The sounds Foley apparently makes aren’t
consistent with “what may be expected,” the
report says.
But the analysis did not dispute that the
beheading took place at some point.
“I think it has been staged,” one analyst told
the Times. “My feeling is that the execution
may have happened after the camera was
stopped.”
The video was shot with two cameras, the
analysis found. A “blip” during Mr. Foley’s
statement near the start of the video suggests
that he might have needed to repeat a line.
The company referred to in the Times
report was anonymous and did not reach a
“definitive answer.”
Meanwhile, Eliot Higgins, a Leicester-based
video and photo analyst who specializes in
Syria, has methodically analyzed the five-
minute video in an attempt to pinpoint where
it happened.
He has concluded that Mr. Foley was most
likely killed in a spot in the hills south of the
Syrian city of Raqqa, whose precise
coordinates he has calculated.
If correct, his finding could provide a crucial
clue in the search for the hooded jihadi with a
British accent who appeared to be the
murderer in the video.
A former hostage identified the masked man
as “John,” who leads a band of British
jihadists dubbed “The Beatles.”
Locating the site of the murder would make it
easier to link jihadists known to be operating
in the area with his death, by comparing it
with other US and British intelligence data.
To work out the location, Mr. Higgins first
blacked out the figures in the footage to
analyze the landscape behind them.
It is a hilly, featureless terrain, but in the
distance it is possible to make out a green
plain. Mr. Higgins compared this with a
satellite image of Raqqa in northern Syria –
the ISIS fighters’ “capital” — where the city
can be seen surrounded by green plains.
Having analyzed all areas under ISIS control,
he found no other locations that fitted the
geography.
Mr. Higgins, who uses the pseudonym Brown
Moses online, then looked at the position of
the shadows, which he says suggests the
video was filmed in a morning, the camera
pointing northwards.
This led him to examine the hills to the south
of Raqqa, and noted an area of raised ground.
He then noted the visible edge of a track that
leads to a break in the rocks — both key
features.
Focusing on the tracks, he compared the
landscape with satellite images of the hills.
He identified a spot where a track appeared
to enter the area, and on the satellite map
identified a rock outcrop that would partly
obscure the entry point, as one does in the
video.
He compared the configurations of trees in
the video with the satellite image and
pinpointed the likeliest location of Mr. Foley’s
murder — an isolated spot with the
coordinates 35.88219, 39.03617.
www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/25/isis-may-not-have-beheaded-james-foley-on-camera-despite-what-video-shows-report

Wow, c men dat cn decode, analyze, pinpoint, depicts, suggest,even predicts jst frm a simple video dat was recorded!! #proudtobeanengineer

lol good

See technology,when will naija get here?