Thursday, 5 February 2015

news

Jordan has executed two convicts, including a
female jihadist, following the killing of one of its
air force pilots by Islamic State (IS) militants.





The woman, failed suicide bomber Sajida al-
Rishawi, and al-Qaeda operative Ziyad Karboli -
both Iraqi nationals - were hanged at dawn,
officials said.
The executions came hours after IS posted a
video appearing to show pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh
being burned alive.
He was seized after crashing during an anti-IS
mission over Syria in December.
Jordan had attempted to secure Lt Kasasbeh's
release in a swap involving Rishawi, but IS is
believed to have killed him a month ago.
The militants initially sought Rishawi's release as
part of a deal to free captive Japanese journalist
Kenji Goto, but later killed him.
Rishawi had been on death row for her role in
attacks in Jordan's capital, Amman, which killed
60 people in 2005. Karboli was convicted in 2008
of killing a Jordanian national.
The two prisoners were executed at 04:00 local
time (02:00 GMT), government spokesman
Mohammad al-Momani said on Wednesday
morning.
'Revenge will be huge'
The BBC's Paul Adams in Amman says talk of an
exchange appears to have been a IS tactic to
string Jordan along and foster doubt among
Jordanians over its role in the US-led coalition.
Jordan vowed an "earth-shattering" response
after IS posted a video online appearing to show
the pilot standing in a cage engulfed in flames.
One of the leading authorities in Sunni Islam
condemned the killing, saying the burning to
death of Lt Kasasbeh violated Islam's prohibition
on the mutilation of bodies.
In a statement released on Tuesday night, Sheikh
Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar
University in Egypt, called for the "killing,
crucifixion of IS terrorists".
Supporters and relatives of Lt Kasasbeh rallied
in Amman to voice their anger at IS militants
Safi al-Kasasbeh, the pilot's father, called on
Jordan's government to do more than execute
prisoners
Mamdouh al-Ameri, a spokesman for the
Jordanian armed forces, said on Tuesday that Lt
Kasasbeh had "fallen as a martyr", saying their
"revenge will be as huge as the loss of the
Jordanians."
Safi al-Kasasbeh, the pilot's father, called for the
Jordanian government to do "more than just
executing prisoners".
The blood of his son was the blood of the nation,
he said, "and the blood of the nation must be
avenged."
"I call for [IS] to be eliminated completely," he
told reporters on Wednesday.

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