On September 2, 2014, journalist Steven Joel Sotloff was murdered by a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). The brutal event was captured on video and then distributed for the whole world to see. Today, on the 10-year anniversary of Sotloff’s death, Marc Marginedas—a fellow reporter who was in captivity in Syria, as well—remembers Sotloff’s courage, humor, and relentless quest for justice, despite the incredible dangers they’d experienced.
It didn’t surprise me to see the expression of acceptance on Steven Sotloff’s face. He knew very well his fate—that he was consuming the last instants of his short but productive life. Two weeks before that, he had witnessed James Foley’s execution, and he had been presented by the leader of our captors, Mohammed Emwazi, the infamous man that the press called “Jihadi John,” as the next prisoner to be assassinated. “I’m sure that you know by now who I am, and why I’m appearing before you,” he started saying calmly, before repeating the propaganda statement against his country that our captors forced him to read before his demise. But that was Steven, my best friend in captivity in Syria, my dearest and most admired colleague during the hardship. Over six months, I had witnessed how this young and brilliant journalist, 14 years younger than me, had dealt with the harrowing situation he was put in with serenity, efficiency, honesty, and enormous bravery, becoming an example for me and, very likely, for others.
On paper, we didn’t have so much in common. He was American, I was European; he was Jewish, I was Catholic. But our bond was based on something more important than ideologies or cultural backgrounds. It was about values. Steven had a strong sense of justice, believed in professional excellency and in establishing links with people with different upbringings, qualities that I deeply admired. And on top of that, he had something that made him very reliable in captivity: He…
