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Our thoughts now are with Eugene Armstrong's family and the families of Ken Bigley and Jack Hensley.
CNN: Video shows American hostage beheaded
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Elsewhere in British Islam, most leaders were anxious to help free Mr Bigley and play down intra-Muslim jealousies.
ECONOMIST: British Muslims try to unite over a hostage crisis
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Armstrong, along with American Jack Hensley and British citizen Kenneth John Bigley, were kidnapped from their residence Thursday.
CNN: Video shows American hostage beheaded
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Yasser al-Sirri, an Egyptian-born Islamist who has resisted efforts to extradite him to America, made a detailed appeal, based on sharia law, for Mr Bigley's freedom.
ECONOMIST: British Muslims try to unite over a hostage crisis
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But any hopes that the Bigley case will bring Britain's Muslims together with one another and with the rest of British society should be seen in the light of what's been happening in France.
ECONOMIST: British Muslims try to unite over a hostage crisis
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First, in October of that year, he was ordered to visit Liverpool to apologise in person for a magazine article that criticised the city's response to the murder of Ken Bigley, who was killed in Iraq.
BBC: Highwire act Boris Johnson defies political gravity
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The then MP was also editor of The Spectator when it carried an opinion piece saying the city was wallowing in "disproportionate" grief for Mr Bigley, adding it was part of the "deeply unattractive psyche" of many on Merseyside.
BBC: Highwire act Boris Johnson defies political gravity
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It will be interesting to see if Bigley's killing sets off more soul-searching in the Arab world about the roots of Islamic militancy - but the chances are that it will soon be seen as just another unfortunate casualty in what most people in the Middle East view as an unjustified war of aggression.
BBC: Ken Bigley