Foley family: ‘Government threatened us over ransom payment’

Diane Foley, mother of slain journalist James Foley, said White House officials told the family they would face criminal charges for supporting terrorism if they paid a ransom for their son. The message came directly from a high-ranking military official on the White House National Security Council (NSC). “We were told that several times and we took it as a threat and it was appalling,” said Mrs Foley. The threats came after the Foley family started raising funds to pay a ransom. Mrs. Foley remains concerned that donors to the fund were also threatened by federal officials.

Three times he intimidated us with that message. We were horrified he would say that. He just told us we would be prosecuted. We knew we had to save our son, we had to try.

Diane Foley, mother of the late James Foley

An official with knowledge of the threat spoke on condition of anonymity, saying: “It was an utterly idiotic thing to do that came across as if he had the compassion of an anvil.” A second official said the NSC officer “had no business speaking about legal issues he was unqualified to discuss.”

Americas Foley