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20-Year-Old Executes Own Mother In Front Of Hundreds Of People For Abandoning Her Faith

She was accused of apostasy.

Cover image via Raqqa_SL

An Islamic State militant has carried out a public "execution" of his mother because she asked him to leave the group, the BBC among several other media sites have reported citing Syrian activists

Even by Islamic State standards, the accusation seems shocking. Earlier this week, Syrian activists say, a militant from the notoriously brutal group stood in front of a crowd, condemned his own mother and then shot her in the head.

The execution took place in Raqqa, a city in eastern Syria that is the Islamic State’s self-declared capital, according to two prominent groups that monitor the Syrian civil war.

One of the groups – the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – said in a report Friday that the 20-year-old man murdered his mother, who was in her 40s, “in front of hundreds of people near the post office building … where she was employed.”

washingtonpost.com

The incident started with an argument between the mother, Lena al-Qasem, and son, Ali Saqr, over his commitment to the Islamic State

Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, an activist group that regularly reports information on Islamic State abuses in the city, named the man as Ali Saqr and shared his photo on Twitter. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he reported his mother, Leena Al-Qasem, for apostasy, or abandoning her faith.

mashable.com

Photo for Ali Saker the #ISIS fighter who killed his mom.

Image via Raqqa_SL

According to Sebastian Usher, Middle East Editor of BBC World Service, ISIS has killed many people for apostasy, just as it's murdered others for homosexuality or supposedly practising magic

It's the macabre twist of having Lena al-Qasem's son kill her that's captured the world's attention. As the air onslaught on IS in Raqqa intensifies, there's recently been an apparent rise in the public murder of residents there for trying to tell the world what's happening or challenging the group's rule with their behaviour or desire to escape.

bbc.com

Though Isis is known for its violent murder videos, the Syrian Observatory said they did not know whether the killing was videotaped. It was not possible to independently verify the report.

Close home, with acts of terrorism creeping into our daily lives at a worrying level, the Malaysian Education ministry plans to incorporate anti-terrorism teachings into the education system

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