Jack Hensley, seated in orange, before his beheading by the five men standing over him

Jack Hensley (September 22, 1955 - September 21, 2004) was an American engineer from Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, near Atlanta.

While working in Iraq he was kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic militants. His colleague, Eugene Armstrong, was beheaded the previous day. Their killers, Tawhid and Jihad, the militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are demanding the release of Iraqi women in U.S. custody.

Hours after Hensley was beheaded, Tawhid and Jihad posted a videotape on the Internet of British hostage Kenneth Bigley pleading to Prime Minister Tony Blair to have his life spared.

The ISP of Tawhid and Jihad's website showing his execution, HostingAnime, has defended showing the content citing "free speech".

See also

• Iraq
  • 2003 invasion of Iraq
  • Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse
  • Human rights situation in post-Saddam Iraq
• Decapitation
  • Daniel Pearl
  • Nick Berg
  • Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.
  • Eugene Armstrong
  • Kim Sun-il
  • Kenneth Bigley
  • Shosei Koda
• Fabrizio Quattrocchi
  • Seif Adnan Kanaan

External links

• Iraqi Video Shows Beheading of Man Said to Be American (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/international/middleeast/21iraq.html) (The New York Times)
• Kidnappers 'Renew Death Threat' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3678150.stm) (BBC)
• Al-Zarqawi Group Beheads American Hostage (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/21/iraq.beheading/index.html) (CNN)
• Memorial site for Jack Hensley (http://www.jackhensley.org)