Jordan responds to pilot's killing with executions

04/02/2015| IslamWeb

Jordan has begun executing fighters on death row as part of an "earth-shattering" response to the burning alive of one of its fighter pilots by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Just hours after a video emerged online on Tuesday purporting to show First-Lieutenant Moaz al-Kassasbeh engulfed in flames, a security official said executions would begin the next day.

Two Iraqis - Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be female suicide bomber, and Ziad al-Karbouli - were the first prisoners to be sent to the gallows at daybreak on Wednesday.

"The death sentence will be carried out on a group of jihadists, starting with Rishawi, as well as Iraqi al-Qaeda operative Ziad al-Karbouli and others who attacked Jordan's interests," a official told AFP news agency.

Five other individuals on death row could also be executed.

The convicts had been moved to al-Suwaqa Jail, where executions in Jordan are typically carried out, a family member of one of the convicts told Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh on Tuesday.

King Abdullah II, who was visiting Washington DC as the video came to light, recorded a televised address to his shocked and outraged nation.

'Earth-shattering response'

Abdullah, who was once in the military himself, described Kassasbeh as a hero and pledged to take the battle to ISIL fighters, who have executed several captives on camera in recent months, provoking worldwide revulsion.

"Jordan's response will be earth-shattering," Mohammed Momani, information minister, said on television, while the army and government pledged to avenge Kassasbeh's murder.

"Whoever doubted the unity of the Jordanian people, we will prove them wrong."
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abdel Bari Atwan, a Middle East analyst, said the killing of Kassasbeh was "unprecedented".

"It's a very clear message and they are trying to show maximum brutality," he said, adding that ISIL was not interested in negotiations.

They are looking to terrorize."

US President Barack Obama, who hosted Abdullah in an Oval Office meeting, led widespread international condemnation of the latest murder, decrying the "cowardice and depravity" of ISIL.

"The president and King Abdullah reaffirmed that the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community's resolve to destroy ISIL," a US National Security Council spokesperson said after the White House meeting.
The Obama administration earlier reaffirmed its intention to give Jordan $3bn in security aid over the next three years.

Kassasbeh was captured in December when his F-16 fighter jet crashed over northern Syria on a mission that was part of the US-led coalition air campaign against ISIL.

Jordanian state television suggested he was killed on January 3, before ISIL offered to spare his life and free a Japanese journalist in return for Rishawi's release.

The country's military had officially informed Kassasbeh's family of his death, Al Jazeera's el-Shamayleh reported from Amman on Tuesday.

The White House would not speculate on whether the video of Kassasbeh's killing was released to coincide with Abdullah's visit to Washington.

International condemnation

David Cameron, UK prime minister, called the murder "sickening", while Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, labeled it an "appalling act".

The release of the video came after ISIL beheaded two Japanese hostages within a week.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, condemned Kassasbeh's burning as "unforgivable".

The highly choreographed 22-minute footage shows Kassasbeh at a table recounting coalition operations against ISIL, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.

It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked ISIL fighters in camouflage.

It cuts to him standing inside a cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked fighter uses a torch to light a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.
The video also offered rewards for the killing of other "crusader" pilots.

After Kassasbeh's capture, activists in Jordan launched a number of campaigns on social-media networks to demonstrate their solidarity with him, including a Twitter and Facebook campaign named "We are all Moaz", which called for prayers for his safety.

Other anti-ISIL campaigns include Twitter campaign #BringMuathHome, with one participant tweeting, "#BringMuathHome, he was fighting terrorists that hijacked our lands, our religion, and slaughtered people".

The hashtag "Be an eagle" was widely circulated via Facebook and Twitter to express support for Kassasbeh, and Facebook pages such as "We are all pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh" drew thousands of supporters and activists.

 

PHOTO CAPTION

A Man prays with verses of Quran for the soul of captured Jordanian pilot Muath Al Kasasbeh, after hearing the news of his execution at the Kasasbeh tribe society on February 3, 2015 in Amman, Jordan.

Aljazeera