Shaheen Responds to ISIS Terrorist, Murderer of NH Journalist James Foley, Guilty Plea
(Manchester, NH) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, issued the following statement after one of the ISIS terrorists charged with murdering New Hampshire journalist James Foley pleaded guilty on Thursday:
“Since James Foley’s brutal murder at the hands of ISIS terrorists in 2014, I have fought in support of his family’s tireless efforts to ensure that his killers stand trial in the U.S. and be held responsible. I’m encouraged to see the justice system hold these terrorists to account and I will continue to monitor these cases as they move forward,” said Shaheen. “My thoughts are with the Foley family, especially his mother Diane who has been an unyielding force to seek justice for her son, as this entire process has been tremendously stressful for his loved ones and other ISIS victims’ families. I’ll continue to advocate on behalf of the families of James Foley, Peter Kassig, Steven Sotloff and Kayla Mueller until they all have their day in court. I’ll also keep raising the cases of other Americans unlawfully detained abroad. Anytime an American is held against their will, the U.S. must do everything in its power to secure their release - their plight demands our attention and the full weight of the U.S. government to bring them home.”
Shaheen has worked closely with the family of James Foley, an American journalist and Granite Stater who was viciously murdered by ISIS jihadists. Shaheen has fought to ensure that ISIS terrorists culpable in Foley’s murder, as well as other U.S. citizens, are brought to trial in the United States. Shaheen has led calls for this on behalf of the family members of James Foley, Peter Kassig, Steven Sotloff and Kayla Mueller, four Americans killed at the hands of ISIS jihadists.
Shaheen successfully included language in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 defense authorization legislation to establish a senior coordinator position within the Executive Branch for all ISIS detainee issues. This position would lead all diplomatic engagements and planning regarding the future of ISIS detainees. In 2018, Senator Shaheen visited northeast Syria to view the detention facilities housing ISIS terrorists. The creation of this role was originally a recommendation of the Syria Study Group’s (SSG) interim report. The final report was released in 2019. Shaheen established the Syria Study Group in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that was signed into law in 2018. The Syria Study Group was a bipartisan panel created with the purpose of completing a comprehensive strategic review of America’s policy in Syria.
