SHAFAQNA – In a shocking low even by the standards of ISIL, a militant has publicly executed his own mother after accusing her of apostasy.
The activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RIBSS) said 20-year-old jihadi Ali Saqr al-Qasem shot his mother Lena, 45, in the head with an assault rifle in front of a large crowd.
Lena al-Qasem is understood to have been accused of apostasy – a crime that usually means leaving one’s religion but in practice is used by ISIL as a justification for murdering anybody who doesn’t support or speaks out against the terror group.
The exact charge against Ms al-Qasem was “inciting her son to leave ISIL and escaping together to the outside of Raqqa”, sources have told media.
According to a UK-based conflict monitor, Ali Saqr al-Qasem had reported his mother to his Isis superiors, who then sentenced her to death and ordered him be the one to kill her.
It is not known why her son was given the task of killing his own mother but the reason the execution took place outside Raqqa’s post office is because that is where Ms al-Qasem had worked.