Jordanian officials have reportedly executed two Islamic terrorists after the barbaric group ISIS, which also identifies itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, released video on Tuesday of a captured Jordanian pilot being locked in a cage and burned alive.
Sajida al-Rishawi, a female would-be suicide bomber, and Ziyad Karboli, a former top aide to a now deceased Al Qaeda leader, were both put to death shortly before dawn on Wednesday. Both are from Iraq.
As previously reported, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto—who was beheaded over the weekend—was featured in a video last week holding a photograph of Jordanian First Lt. Moaz al-Kassasbeh, and warning that ISIS would kill both of them if al-Rishawi was not released. Jordanian officials had retorted that if anything happened to al-Kassasbeh, they would execute the terrorists responsible for his death.
On Tuesday, ISIS released video and photographs that purportedly showed the pilot locked in a metal cage while surrounded by jihadist fighters. As with other captives, al-Kassasbeh was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, but his clothing was wet with what was believed to be gasoline or some other kind of accelerant. There was also trail of powder leading from outside the cage to the pilot.
ISIS member Emir Ahmed is then seen bending down to light the fire with a torch, and al-Kassasbeh screams in terror before falling to his knees. Moments later, he is engulfed in flames as he dies. Another ISIS member driving a tractor then dumps rocks and sand onto the cage to extinguish the fire.
The 22-minute video was entitled “Healing the Believers’ Chests” and is in the process of being authenticated. The beginning of the video shows footage of King Abdullah of Jordan meeting with Barack Obama, vowing to join the fight against the Islamic State.
But in an ironic twist, Jordanian officials announced after the release of the footage that al-Kassasbeh had been executed by ISIS a month ago—on Jan. 3, and so the video released by the terrorist group last week offering an exchange of prisoners was all a deceitful charade as the Jordanian pilot was already dead.
al-Kassasbeh’s father told reporters following word of the executions of the Islamic terrorists that the deaths of two prisoners is not enough to avenge his son.
“I demand the revenge be greater than executing prisoners,” he said. “I demand the ISIS organisation be annihilated.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah had been visiting the United States when the video was released, and has since returned to his country.
“[The murder of al-Kassasbeh] is just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization,” Barack Obama said to the press during a meeting with Abdullah on Tuesday. “It, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated. It also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they’re operating off of, it’s bankrupt.”
Both Obama and Abdullah have stated that they do not believe that ISIS is representative of the Islamic religion.