Father of pilot captured by IS pleads for release

Source: AP-Excite

By OMAR AKOUR and DIAA HADID

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by the Islamic State group in Syria pleaded for his son's release on Thursday, asking him to treat him well in captivity as a fellow Muslim.

So far, there has been silence from the extremists about the fate of their captive, 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, since gunmen from the group dragged him away following his crash Wednesday morning.

Al-Kaseasbeh was carrying out air strikes against the militants when his warplane crashed near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de facto capital. The group has executed captured Iraqi and Syrian Muslim soldiers in the past — it follows an extremist version of Islam that considers rivals, even some Sunni Muslims, as apostates. Still, the group may want to negotiate a prisoner swap or other concessions from Jordan.

The pilot's father, Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, made his plea while speaking to journalists in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

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Friends and relatives of Mu'ath Safi al-Kaseasbeh, a Jordanian pilot captured by the Islamic State group, gather in the town of Aey near Al Karak in southern Jordan, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Islamic State militants captured the Jordanian pilot after his warplane crashed in Syria while conducting airstrikes Wednesday, the first foreign military member to fall into the extremists' hands since an international coalition launched its bombing campaign against the group months ago. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)


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