WASHINGTON, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - The United States authorities do not consider changing the principle of not negotiating and not paying ransom for hostages seized by terrorists, even after the execution of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, White House spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
"The United States government believes very strongly that paying ransom to terrorists gives them a tool in the form of financing that helps them propagate what they're doing," Harf said.
She refused to confirm or deny that the terrorists demanded a $132.5 million ransom for the American journalist.
In 2014 alone, the IS militants received millions of dollars in ransom for hostages, the spokeswoman said. The US government does not do this, on the contrary, it seeks to deprive them of their funding.
The IS members have released a video showing the beheading of James Foley, US journalist, captured by jihadists in Syria in 2012. A masked man on the footage, who performed the execution of Foley, was speaking English with southern British accent, and apparently was a UK national, as The Guardian reported Wednesday. The militants claim the execution was carried out in response to US drone and air attacks against the IS forces in Northern Iraq.
