Muath al-Kasaesbeh's father
Photo: AFP
Pilot's father: More executions to avenge my son's blood
After Jordan executes two prisoners in response to Islamic State radicals' murder of captured pilot, Muath al-Kasaesbeh's father urges revenge.
There was widespread shock and anger in Jordan at the brutality of Islamic State radicals' murder of captive pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh, which drew international condemnation.
Kasaesbeh's father said the two executions were not enough and urged the government to do more to avenge his death. "I want the state to get revenge for my son's blood through more executions of those people who follow this criminal group that shares nothing with Islam," Safi al-Kasaesbeh told Reuters.
Jordan hanged two Iraqi jihadists on Wednesday including a female militant in response to an Islamic State video showing the captured Jordanian pilot being burnt alive by the hard-line group.
Muath al-Kasaesbeh (Photo: Reuters)
Kasaesbeh's father said the two executions were not enough and urged the government to do more to avenge his death. "I want the state to get revenge for my son's blood through more executions of those people who follow this criminal group that shares nothing with Islam," Safi al-Kasaesbeh told Reuters.
"Jordanians are demanding that the state and coalition take revenge with even more painful blows to destroy these criminals," he said.
Jordanians hold candle vigil for pilot (Photo: AP)
The Jordanian army has vowed to avenge his death, and some analysts believe it could escalate its involvement in the campaign against Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria, Jordan's neighbors to the north and east.
Islamic State had demanded the release of a woman, Sajida al-Rishawi, in exchange for a Japanese hostage whom it later beheaded. Sentenced to death for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack in Amman, Rishawi was executed at dawn, a security source and state television said.
Jordan, which is part of the US-led alliance against Islamic State, has promised an "earth-shaking response" to the killing of its pilot, who was captured in December when his F-16 crashed over northeastern Syria.
Jordan also executed a senior al-Qaeda prisoner, Ziyad Karboli, an Iraqi man who was sentenced to death in 2008.
King Abdullah (Photo: Reuters)
The fate of Kasaesbeh, a member of a large tribe that forms the backbone of support for the country's Hashemite monarchy, has gripped Jordan for weeks and some Jordanians have criticized King Abdullah for embroiling them in the US-led war that they say will provoke a militant backlash.
King Abdullah cut short an official visit to the United States on Tuesday. In a televised statement to the nation, he urged national unity and said the killing was a cowardly act of terror by a criminal group that has no relation to Islam.
