Jordan executed two
al Qaeda prisoners before dawn Wednesday, following through on a promised
strong response to the ISIS killing of pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh, a government
spokesman said.
Put
to death were Sajida al-Rishawi, the Iraqi would-be suicide bomber whose
release ISIS had previously requested, and Ziad Karbouli, a former top aide to
the deceased leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the spokesman
said.
Al-Rishawi
was executed for her role in a 2005 suicide bombing at a wedding reception in
Jordan that killed dozens. Karbouli was sentenced to death in 2007 after he was
convicted of acts of terrorism that killed one person, the plotting of more
terrorist attacks and the possession of explosives, the Jordanian spokesman
said.
The
executions come a day after video and stills appeared to show a Jordanian
military pilot being burned alive while confined in a cage.
The
22-minute video begins with an attack on Jordan's King Abdullah II, suggesting
he is to blame for what happened to the pilot, Moath al-Kasasbeh.
A
short time after the video became public, Jordanian military spokesman Mamdouh
Al Amri said al-Kasasbeh was "assassinated" on January 3.
His
statement indicates the back-and-forth in recent weeks between Jordan and ISIS
about a possible prisoner exchange to free the pilot took place after his
death. Jordan repeatedly had asked ISIS to show proof that al-Kasasbeh was
alive.
"Those
who doubted the atrocities committed by ISIS now have the proof,"
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said on state TV. "Those
who doubted Jordan's power will soon see the proof as well. (Al-Kasasbeh's)
blood will not be shed in vain."
In
Amman and in the pilot's hometown, crowds hit the streets, calling for revenge.
"With
the blood and self," protesters chanted, "we are sacrificing ourselves
for Moath."
One
demonstrator held a poster that read: "They burned our hearts, so let's
burn their dens, and their prisoners in our prisons."
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