Edwin Dyer was a British citizen captured by Al Quaeda Islamist terrorists in Mali and, now, put to death by them. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

But how did he die?

BBC:   Al-Qaeda ‘kills British hostage’

Telegraph:   British hostage Edwin Dyer has been executed by Al-Qaeda’s North African branch in Mali, according to a statement issued by Gordon Brown 

No. What Gordon Brown said was …

No 10:   The PM said: We have strong reason to believe that a British citizen, Edwin Dyer, has been murdered by an Al Qaeda cell in Mali.

Guardian:   British hostage Edwin Dyer ‘killed by al-Qaida’…

Times:   British hostage Edwin Dyer murdered after Qatada release is refused

Independent:   British holidaymaker is ‘beheaded by al-Qa’ida’

Tourist executed in Mali after British Government refuses to pay for his release …A British tourist held hostage for more than four months has been murdered in Mali…

And so on.

The tendency which sneaks into the media to call murders of this sort ‘executions’ is repulsive. See also the absurd phrase gangland executions.

That use of the word ‘execution’ gives the impression of some sort of legitimate process leading to the final act of killing.

In fact the very claim by such a group to be acting according to some sort of higher norms makes the murder all the more repulsive.

So amidst all his political difficulties my thanks to PM Gordon Brown for choosing the words in his statement on Edwin Dyer correctly.

And shame upon the Telegraph in particular for failing in the minimally difficult task of quoting him accurately.

On that tragic note, here ends my 1000th posting on this website.