James Foley family release final email from Isis militants before he was killed

The Global Post has published the email sent to Mr Foley's family in full

The family of James Foley have released the final email sent by Islamic State (Isis) militants a week before he was beheaded and a video of the killing was uploaded onto the internet.

GlobalPost, a news site the American photojournalist worked for before his death, said it had chosen to publish the letter “in full in the interest of transparency and to fully tell Jim's story”.

Mr Foley was beheaded by the group in an act shown in a video released by Isis, who called for the United States to end its airstrikes in Iraq. His killer is believed to be a British citizen.

In an article explaining its decision to publish the message, GlobalPost said it believes "the text offers insight into the motivations and tactics of the Islamic State". The Foley family, GlobalPost, government authorities and private security consultants had been investigating Foley’s whereabouts and attempting to secure his release, the article added.

The email claims Mr Foley’s family were given “many chances to negotiate the release of your people via cash transactions as other governments have accepted”.

The group added that it also offered prisoner exchanges for "Muslims currently in your detention."

Instead, the note added, "now you return to bomb the Muslims of Iraq once again, this time resorting to Arial attacks and "proxy armies", all the while cowardly shying away from a face-to-face confrontation!"

However, GlobalPost said Mr Foley’s family received their first message from his captors on 26 November 2013, asking for money, “fast," after more than a year without contact.

"After the militants had proved to the Foleys and investigators that they were in fact holding Jim, they made their sole demand for a ransom of 100 million euros (about $132 million) or the release of unspecified prisoners held by the United States," it said.

The Foleys did not hear back until receiving the threatening email this month, GlobalPost added, and they passed the message on to the US government. Its chief executive, Phil Balboni, said in an interview on Thursday that the FBI helped craft a response, pleading for mercy.

The email declared: “You do not spare our weak, elderly, women or children so we will NOT spare yours!

“You and your citizens will pay the price of your bombings!

“The first of which being the blood of the American citizen, James Foley!

“He will be executed as a DIRECT result of your transgressions towards us!”