Shocking ISIS Video Shows Man Digging His Own Grave Before Being Executed by Jihadist Group

Jun 12, 2015 02:45 PM EDT

An Egyptian man was forced to dig his own grave before being executed by the Islamic State militants, who believed he was working for Israeli intelligence, a horrific new video released by the jihadist group has revealed.

On Wednesday, ISIS published a "heavily choreographed" propaganda video showing a man using a pick axe and shovel to dig a hole in the desert, purportedly in Egypt's Sinai region. 

At the beginning of the video, the man is seen talking Arabic on a cellphone after he's captured by ISIS militants. In the next scene, he appears dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and is shown digging his own grave and mumbling to himself before being shot execution style in the back of the head with a pistol by a masked ISIS militant.

The horrific video, which was uploaded to YouTube through an ISIS-linked Twitter account, then shows the bloody aftermath of the killing.

Although one Egyptian news agency is reporting that the video might be fraudulent, it also notes that that man's parents claim he was waiting to join the Egyptian military but then disappeared, causing many to believe he was killed. 

This is the latest in a long line of gruesome beheading videos published by the jihadist group, which has expanded its caliphate across Iraq and Syria and has furthered its influence into parts of Libya. The videos are thought to be part of  the group's propaganda campaign to spread its version of Islam across the Middle East.

In May, ISIS released a similar video, where a man clad in an orange jumpsuit was forced admit his sins on camera before digging his own grave, also with a shovel and ax. He was then beheaded by the jihadist group on suspicion of being a spy for the Syrian government.

In March, a video emerged showing a boy executing an East Jerusalem Arab man who had supposedly joined ISIS, but then was accused of being an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. In January, the group published a video showing a child executing two men accused of being Russian spies trying to infiltrate the terrorist organization in Syria.

Also in January, the terrorist group released a similar propaganda video in which it threatened to behead President Barack Obama and turn the US into a Muslim province.

Then, in February, ISIS released a video titled "A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross," in which it showed the beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians that had been kidnapped in Libya.

Mubin Sheikh, author of the book Undercover Jihadi, told USA Today that the public's reaction to its string of gruesome videos have been "exactly" what the jihadist group wants.

"The video will whip up enthusiasm among the group's ardent supporters but has triggered 'revulsion' in the rest of the world," Sheikh said.