Steven Sotloff
ISIS Victim
Died when: 31 years 114 days (375 months)Star Sign: Taurus
Steven Joel Sotloff (Hebrew: ????? ??????;May 11, 1983 – c.September 2, 2014) was an American-Israeli journalist.In August 2013, he was kidnapped in Aleppo, Syria, and held captive by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
On September 2, 2014, ISIS released a beheading video, showing one of its members beheading Sotloff.Following Sotloff's beheading, U.S.President Barack Obama stated that the United States would take action to "degrade and destroy" ISIS.
President Obama also signed an Executive Order dated June 24, 2015, in the presence of the Sotloff family and other hostage families, overhauling how the U.S. handles American hostages held abroad by groups such as ISIS.
The capture and beheading of Steven Sotloff, and of fellow journalist James Foley a month prior, initiated broad public awareness of ISIL/ISIS after the beheadings were shown on the Internet and then on international television.
Sotloff's legacy is, in part, that he broke the Benghazi story to CNN, that there was no protest, and that he foresaw the massive Syrian Refugee Crisis as he reported on the everyday people's suffering in Syria, thus earning him the reputation as "The Voice for the Voiceless."