Jordan executes Al Qaeda prisoners after ISIL burns pilot alive

Sajeda Al Rishawi, an Iraqi woman, was executed before daybreak Wednesday, along with another prisoner, Zaid Al Karbouly, also linked to Al Qaeda.

Sajida Al Rishawi, pictured, was executed along with Zaid Al Karbouly by Jordan in response to ISIL burning to death Lt Maaz Al Kassasbeh, a pilot in the Jordanian air force. Majed Jaber / Reuters

AMMAN // Jordan executed two death-row prisoners at dawn on Wednesday after vowing an “earth-shattering” response to avenge the burning alive of one of its fighter pilots by ISIL.

Iraqi female suicide bomber Sajida Al Rishawi and Iraqi Al Qaeda member Ziad Al Karbouley were hanged at 4am (6am UAE), government spokesman Mohammad Al Momani said.

A security source said the executions were carried out at Swaqa prison south of the capital Amman in the presence of an Islamic legal official.

Jordan had promised to begin executing the terrorists on death row at daybreak in response to the murder of Maaz Al Kassasbeh, who was captured by ISIL when his plane went down in Syria in December.

Rishawi, 44, was condemned to death for her participation in deadly attacks in Amman in 2005 and IS had offered to spare Kassasbeh’s life and free a Japanese hostage — who was later beheaded — if she were released.

Karboli was sentenced to death in 2007 on terrorism charges, including the killing of a Jordanian in Iraq.

Jordan had on Tuesday vowed to avenge the killing of Kassasbeh, hours after a harrowing video emerged online purporting to show the caged 26-year-old F-16 fighter pilot engulfed in flames.

The pilot’s gruesome death sparked outrage and street demonstrations in Jordan, where the country’s participation in the anti-ISIL coalition has not been popular. The video emerged after a week-long drama over a possible prisoner exchange for a female Al Qaeda operative jailed in Jordan who was one of the two prisoners executed.

In Washington, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and President Barack Obama vowed in a hastily arranged White House meeting not to let up in the fight against Islamic State. Jordan, a staunch Western ally, is a member of the coalition.

The video, which threatened other purported Jordanian pilots by name, was released on militant websites and bore the logo of the extremist group’s Al Furqan media service. The clip featured the slick production and graphics used in previous Islamic State videos.

The killing of the 26-year-old airman appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan — a close US ally — to leave the coalition that has carried out months of air strikes targeting ISIL positions in Syria and Iraq. But the extremists’ brutality against a fellow Muslim could backfire and galvanise other Sunni Muslims in the region against them.

At their White House meeting, the king and Mr Obama affirmed that “the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community’s resolve to destroy ISIL,” said White House spokesman Alistair Baskey.

King Abdullah, who was on a previously scheduled trip to Washington, arrived after nightfall Tuesday and made no remarks to reporters as he and Mr Obama sat side by side in the Oval Office.

In a statement before his meeting with King Abdullah, Mr Obama vowed the pilot’s death would “redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of our global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated.”

King Abdullah has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values.

* Agencies