A British Member of the European Parliament, Afzal Khan, Friday called for an end to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) "barbarity" and to confront its false ideology.
"Muslims all over are appalled that these crimes are being carried out in the name of their faith," said Khan, who is Vice Chair of the EP's Security and Defence Committee, member of the EP's foreign affairs committee and a member of the EP Delegation for the Arab Peninsula.
"ISIL's false ideology and narrative must be confronted. It is imperative that a broad coalition including the Middle East be put in place to tackle the menace of ISIL," he stressed in a statement.
He described the onslaught of ISIL against Christian and other minority sects in Iraq and Syria as 'deeply disturbing' and renounced them as out of line with the teachings of the Islamic faith.
He also called for an end to the recent beheading of Western journalists and aid workers and, particularly, for the release of Alan Henning, a resident of Afzal Khan's North West constituency in the UK.
"Mr Henning is a good, compassionate man, who went to Syria to help those suffering. In fact a letter signed by Muslim Imams and leaders is going out today asking for the release of Mr Henning," he said.
The letter calls on ISIL to "to see the error of their ways" and "accept that what they are now doing constitutes the worst condemnable sin." Khan also asked for a special EU study to investigate the different roles that various military and political factions such as ISIL and the Muslim Brotherhood play in the Middle East.
The pending study aims to provide a better understanding of how to distinguish between hostile and peaceful groups and to pave the way for solutions to tackle the former.