Jordan Responds to Pilot's Killing with Executions
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Jordan began 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 in 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," an official told the AFP news agency.
Five other individuals on death row could also be executed.
King Abdullah II, who was visiting Washington DC as the video came to light, recorded a televised address to his shocked and outraged nation.
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."
