Representatives from Al-Qaeda in Syria have asked Islamic State (IS) to release Alan Henning, the British man who was named in a video this weekend as the next IS hostage threatened with beheading, The Times reports.
The militants and "religious jurists" who made the plea, included representatives from Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda linked group, journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem reported on his website.
Henning, 47, was captured by IS a few hours after entering Syria as part of an aid convoy. The rest of the convoy was released, but Henning was detained.
IS believed that he was a spy, and when the others in the convoy asked for proof, the IS commander pointed to his passport with an electronic chip.
"There is a secret chip inside. This is so that the intelligence service can continue tracking him," the commander said, according to Kareem's report.
One of the convoy, a Muslim, told the commander that all British passports have the chip.
"ISIS cited that they couldn't believe that a white Christian would want to come to Syria at this time except that he was a spy," Kareem wrote.
When the aid workers told the militants they were supporting people in Syria that IS claims they want to help, the commander replied: "We don't need convoys, we have Allah," Kareem said.
Kareem wrote the blog on August 14, concealing Henning's identity, but reporting his abduction.
Shortly after the attempted intervention by both aid workers and militants, IS were attacked by the Jaish Al-Mujahideen and Henning was moved from the prison in Al-Dana, where he was being held. The video was the first that had been heard of him since.
Kareem, a Muslim who has reported alongside the militants in Syria for the past two years, ended his blog by calling all IS supporters to write and condemn the intended beheading.
He added: "If you are currently in ISIS then I ask you in the name of Allah to be men and confront your [emir] and tell him that this is wrong and it needs to be stopped."
