Hundreds attend memorial service for slain US journalist

September 06, 2014 09:30

Murdered American journalist Steven Sotloff urged his friends and family to live life "to the fullest," in a letter penned during his captivity in Iraq and read at a memorial service in his honor.

Hundreds of mourners paid their last respects to the journalist at a somber and emotional ceremony held yesterday just days after his beheading by Islamic State militants.

"Please know I'm OK. Live your life to the fullest and fight to be happy," the reporter said in a letter read to the congregation at the service.

Parts of letters written by Sotloff were smuggled out to his family during his captivity, US news reports said.

Flags flew at half-staff across his home state of Florida yesterday, and a large meeting room at a Miami synagogue, said to hold up to 700 people, was filled beyond capacity.

Sotloff, 31, was beheaded by Islamic State militants in a video released Tuesday, two weeks after the similar video of US journalist James Foley's killing was posted online. The freelance reporter, who had written for various publications, including Time magazine, Foreign Policy and others, was kidnapped April 4, 2013 in Aleppo near the Turkish border.

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