Mother tweets letter to ISIS
Paula Kassig tweets the message to several accounts believed to be associated with Al-Baghdadi:
A Letter from Abdul-Rahman Kassig's Mother to IS Caliph Al Baghdadi pic.twitter.com/QUXTXluVnY
— Paula Kassig (@PaulaKassig) October 8, 2014
Prays, changes name
Kassig has become a devout Muslim, prays five times a day and fasts twice a week, and has changed his name to Abdul Rahman. Henin, who shared a cell with Kassig:
Peter converted shortly after he was captured. When I first met him [in December last year], he was already introducing himself as Abdul Rahman, which was the name he decided to take right after his conversion
He says the conversion is not due to being captured by ISIS.
Wisconsin man wounded in Syria
28-year-old Matson from Racine, Wis., is recovering in a northern Syrian hospital after being injured in the foot in an ISIS attack. On why he decided to join the Kurdish forces:
I couldn’t just sit and watch Christians being slaughtered anymore. I got sick of giving online sympathy. Five minutes of lip service does nothing. These people are fighting for their homes, for everything they have.
‘Beaten regularly’
Henin says that Kassig and other cellmates are regularly beaten by their ISIS captors.
Founder announces 2M donation
Turkish born C
EO Hamdi Ulukaya pledges $2 million to aid refugees in Kobani, a town bordering Syria and Turkey that is under siege from ISIS.
Either we will be watching the massacre there and will live on with a guilty conscience or we will save people.
Issues rules for journalists
ISIS issues a set of 11 rules for journalists in Deir Ezzor, including a requirement to submit a request for a license to the group’s media office, providing the user-names of any social media accounts operated by journalists, and avoiding working with TV channels it has placed on a blacklist as being anti-Islamic, including Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. Journalists must also swear allegiance to Baghdadi as the Caliph. The Independent reports that most journalists have fled the area since the rules were announced.
Family releases letter
Kassig’s parents release a letter that he wrote to them from captivity:
I cannot imagine the strength and commitment it has taken to raise a son like me but your love and patience are things I am so deeply grateful for. I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping, and wondering if I should even hope at all.
Family releases video
Ed and Paula Kassig release the video on Youtube, with Arabic subtitles. Ed:
He grew to love and admire the Syrian people and felt at home there. Our son’s journey culminated in him embracing Islam. Sadly, he was taken captive and is not free to continue his life’s work serving the people of the region
Paula:
We are so very proud of you and the work that you have done to bring humanitarian aid to the Syrian people
‘Five-star lifestyle’
ISIS fighters in Raqqa are reported to live an elite lifestyle including eating at five-star restaurants, swimming in hotel pools, and owning luxury property and vehicles. They were also given payrises and roast lamb for the Eid al-Adha festival, and receive preferential medical treatment. Source:
As soon as they arrived, they became the elite of the community. They were given comfortable homes and cars — and they get a generous salary every month. Recently, a bombing left many people, including fighters, badly hurt. We ran to help and saw ISIS trucks arrive and remove their men for treatment, leaving the civilians just lying there.
Tweets threat
ISIS threatens Kassig in a tweet:
Another American soldier peter E,kassing is ready for beheading, threat by Islamic State
May have been killed Sept. 20
0 0 reuben reuben2014-10-03 19:27:322015-01-16 13:10:38May have been killed Sept. 20Clegg statement
Clegg tweets statements:
Sincere condolences to Alan Henning’s family. Barbaric actions of ISIL are held in complete contempt. We are resolved to defeat this evil.
Alan Henning was a man moved to selflessly help those most in need and we should remember that above all else at this difficult time.
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) October 3, 2014
Father sends video message
Cantlie’s father, Paul, records the message to ISIS after a throat operation.
My family and I are trying to communicate with the Islamic State to deliver an important message regarding John and can only hope that it has been received as we have had no response.
To those holding John: please know that he is a good man, he sought only to help the Syrian people and I ask you from all that is sacred, to help us and allow him to return home safely to those he loves and who love him.
He says the video released by ISIS was the first time that Cantlie’s family have seen him in two years. On Cantlie’s work in Syria:
[He was] seeking out the true story of the suffering of the Syrian people and ensuring the world was made aware of their plight.
John felt a strong need to help in the best way that he could: as an impartial and respected journalist he knew that he could make a difference by acting as a platform for the world to listen to and take notice, using his journalistic skills for the good of the people; as a friend and as a civilian.
Cameron statement
Cameron releases a statement:
The brutal murder of Alan Henning by Isil shows just how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are. My thoughts and prayers tonight are with Alan’s wife Barbara, their children and all those who loved him. Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need. The fact that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these Isil terrorists. We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice.
Foreign Office statement
The Foreign Office releases a statement:
We are aware of the video and are working urgently to verify the contents. If true, this is a further disgusting murder. We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time.
Threatened in video
Kassig is threatened at the end of the video of Henning’s death. ISIS militant:
Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of the Sham which keeps on striking our people. So, it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people.
Killed at 7:50 a.m.
A Twitter user who has offered previously credible accounts of ISIS activities says a captive dressed in an orange jumpsuit was driven to a hill near Raqqa where Foley was beheaded. Roads are sealed, and a man with a knife is present. @Raqqa_SI:
We believe it’s the same person who executed the reporters before.
The killing takes place at 7:50 a.m. local time (00:50 Eastern time):
Isis beheaded this captive at 7:50 am and many cars went with them, one of cars were carrying a big TV camera in it
The Twitter user says two more cameras captured the killing, and another prisoner is readied to appear in a video:
We notice a Nissan red station and a black 4×4, in this black car there was another captive who was protected with many Isis troop
Third ISIS video
Cantlie appears in a third video, criticizing Obama’s speech about ISIS and the coalition plans:
It was all disappointingly predictable; America is good, the Islamic State is bad; and they will be defeated using aircraft and a motley collection of fighters on the ground. For their part the Islamic State say they welcome meeting Obama’s under-construction army.
Second ISIS video
ISIS releases a second video of Cantlie:
I’m John Cantlie, the British citizen abandoned by my government
He criticizes the U.S.’s involvement in the fight against ISIS, including a quote from Obama’s time as a senator in which he says he opposes a ‘rash war.’
[Obama] has been inexorably drawn back in, but he’s at pains to point out that this is not the equivalent of the Iraq War. Indeed, it’s far more complicated and prone to failure.
He says the ‘pre-9/11 Afghans’ are once again in control of a large part of Afghanistan and that the estimated 15,000 troops needed to fight ISIS are ‘laughably low,’ and the ‘full might of the American war machine’ can’t stop the group.
Addresses Islamic terror at UN
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, speaks at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, addressing the Islamic terror threat. The half hour speech compares ISIS, Iran and Hamas as a whole in regards to Islamic militancy being a threat to democracy and the world. Netanyahu:
Last week, many countries here rightly applauded President Obama for leading the effort to confront ISIS. And yet weeks before, some of these same countries, that now support confronting ISIS, opposed Israel for confronting Hamas. They evidently don’t understand that ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree. ISIS and Hamas share a fanatical creed, which they both seek to impose well beyond the territory under their control. Don’t be fooled by Iran’s manipulative charm offensive. It’s designed for one purpose and for one purpose only: to lift the sanctions and remove the obstacles to Iran’s path to the bomb.
