Beheading Video Of Murdered Iraqi Journalist Was A Hoax

On Sunday we reported about the op-ed piece discussing a newly discovered video that purported to show the brutal beheading of Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat, who was killed in February.

But now, The Jawa Report reports, it turns out that video was a hoax:

A gruesome beheading video delivered to the Sunday Times purporting to be of slain journalist Atwar Bahjat is a hoax. On Sunday, May 7th, the Times reported that they had received a low-quality video of Atwar Bahjat being slowly beheaded. That video is now being circulated on the internet as the “Atwar Bahjat” beheading video.

The Jawa Report can reveal that the Times and Halal Jabar, the author of the article, are victims of a hoax. The video actually shows the gruesome murder of a Nepalese man by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq from August of 2004. The man was one of 12 victims executed by the terrorist organization–the other 11 were shot.

WARNING: The link that follows includes some VERY gruesome photos. CLICK HERE to read The Jawa Report post.

NOTE: We got this email from the writer of a weblog — and it is a point well taken: “I know Rusty called it a hoax, but really only the identification was a hoax. The video, unfortunately, still depicts the depravity of the Islamist terrorists in Iraq. ‘Hoax’ implies that the murder was faked.”

True. It WAS a murder. The op-ed piece misidentified the victim. A good point: is it any LESS of a barbaric crime because it wasn’t Iraqi’s murdered journalist who was the victim? We ran our clarification in the interest of accuracy.