This is a shocking new low even by the standards of ISIS.
A militant has publicly executed his own mother after accusing her of apostasy.
Activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RIBSS) said that 20-year-old Ali Saqr al-Qasem shot his mother Lena, 45, in the head with an assault rifle in front of a large crowd, The Independent reports.
2-He executed his mother for apostasy in front of the Post building yesterday in Public execution #Raqqa #ISIS pic.twitter.com/R0a2ZB4SUc
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) January 7, 2016
She is believed to have been accused of apostasy. This is a crime that usually means leaving your religion, but ISIS use it to justify murdering anybody who doesn’t support their group.
Her exact charge was ‘inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside of Raqqa’, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.
It’s believed Ali Saqr al-Qasem reported his mother to his superiors and they then sentenced her to death, ordering him to kill her himself.
It remains unknown why her son was given the chilling task of killing his own mother, but they executed her outside Raqqa’s post office because that is where Lena had worked.
The Observatory said hundreds of people turned out to watch the brutal execution.