U.S. mother pleads to Islamic State leader for her son's release

Peter Theo Curtis, an American writer released this week after nearly two years of captivity in Syria, talks to reporters near his mother's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts August 27, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

BOSTON (Reuters) - The mother of an American journalist held captive by militant group Islamic State released a video on Wednesday appealing directly to the group's leader for his release.

"I am sending this message to you, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Quraishi al-Hussaini, the caliph of the Islamic State. I am Shirley Sotloff. My son Steven is in your hands," Sotloff said in the video, given to the New York Times.