Six HSBC staff are sacked after filming ISIS-style mock execution during team-building day out at go-karting centre

Six HSBC staff have been sacked after filming themselves staging a mock ISIS-style beheading during a team building day at a go karting centre.

The footage posted online shows five men in black overalls and balaclavas laughing as they stand over an Asian colleague, named as Saf Ahmed, who is kneeling in an orange jumpsuit.

One of the workers shouts 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is great' - as an 'executioner' brandishes a coat hanger as a fake knife.

The eight-second video, obtained by The Sun, was shot as the workers were on a team-building exercise at a Teamworks Karting track in Birmingham organized by the bank.

In a chilling echo to Jihadi John's execution videos, the men - thought to be legal staff - stand behind their colleague holding the scruff of his neck.

Both British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines wore similar orange jumpsuits to the one seen in the HSBC workers' footage when they were killed in the barbaric executions last year. 

Mr Ahmed denied any knowledge of the video, which was posted on Instagram but later deleted.

A HSBC spokesperson said: 'We do not tolerate inappropriate behavior.

'We took the decision to sack the individuals involved. This is an abhorrent video and HSBC would like to apologize for any offense caused.'

The workers' video is the latest scandal for HSBC, which earlier this year was accused of helping rich clients avoid tax and turning a blind eye to arms dealers.

On the 'Our Values' page of its website, HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver says: 'By setting the highest standards of behavior our aim is that all of our employees and customers can be proud of our business.' 

The bank's customers and Twitter users slammed the stunt online today, branding it 'utter, utter idiocy'.

Ben Rose tweeted: 'That HSBC mock ISIS beheading. Supposed educated individuals. Bunch of absolute morons more like.'

And another user added: 'HSBC only sacked those 'ISIS' goons because the film was made public. Imagine what goes on in private at that place.'

ISIS has used its carefully-produced propaganda videos to recruit extremists from around the world to its cause. 

The horrific footage of the beheadings of US and British hostages featuring the killer known-as 'Jihadi John' were designed to cause maximum shock around the world.

Hostages were put in orange jumpsuits in a perverse reference to inmates at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where high-risk terrorists were imprisoned by the US authorities.

The videos were spread through social media and YouTube in a bid to attract radicals from around the world to their side.

It is not the first time the propaganda videos have been recreated for poor-taste jokes. Earlier this year, actress Dakota Johnson was criticised for filming an ISIS-themed skit for US show Saturday Night Live.

The sequence poked fun at a Toyota advert, but showed Johnson jumping into the back of an ISIS jeep. The sketch was slammed as 'depraved' and 'tasteless' by viewers.