Three high-profile, conservative British Muslim clerics have made a direct appeal to the Islamic State (Isil) to release the British hostage Alan Henning, warning that killing him would go against Islamic law.

The latest plea to free Henning, an aid worker who was kidhnapped in Syria last year, comes from a judge on the Sharia council in London, a Manchester-based cleric and an Imam from Lewisham. All belong to the highly conservative Salafi strand of Islam.

In a video posted on YouTube on Friday, Shaykh Haitham Al Haddad, a judge on the Sharia Council, said: “This is to confirm that executing this man is … impermissible, prohibited according to Sharia.”

Henning, 47, a taxi driver from Eccles in Salford, was driving an ambulance in an aid convoy when he was kidnapped just half an hour after crossing the Syrian border on Boxing Day 2013. He is the latest hostage to be threatened with beheading by the Islamic State, appearing at the end of a video in which fellow British hostage David Haines was murdered.

Ustadh Abu Eesa, Manchester-based cleric, said he would “personally vouch” for Henning, warning that killing him would “deface” the religion of Islam.

Imam Shakeel Begg, of the Lewisham Islamic Centre, quotes from the Koran in the video, explaining that there is “no justification in our religion that allows you to continue to hold him let alone harm him”.

They were joined by a jihadi ideologue based in Jordan.

Abu Mohammed al-Maqdisi, who was released by Jordan in June after serving a five-year sentence on terror charges, said in a statement posted on his website that non-Muslims who aid needy Muslims should be protected.

Al-Maqdisi said Henning worked with a charitable organisation led by Muslims which sent several aid convoys to help the Syrian people. “Is it reasonable that his reward is being kidnapped and slaughtered? … He should be rewarded with thanks.”

“We call on the (Islamic) State to release this man (Henning) and other aid group employees who enter the land of Muslims with a guarantee of protection… according to the judgment of Shariah law,” he said, adding that he hoped to “protect the image of Islamic Shariah law from being disfigured.”

Their appeal follows a statement signed by more than a hundred Muslim leaders from various groups, including the Muslim Council of Britain, and published by the Independent, calling for Henning’s life to be spared.    »»» Telegraph U.K.

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