Jordan Releases Ex-Mentor of Senior al-Qaeda Member
AMMAN (Press TV) – Jordan has released a senior al-Qaeda member from jail without providing any reasons, security sources say.
Issam Barqawi, also known as Mohammed al-Maqdisi, was released on Thursday upon a decision by the head of the state security court.
According to the security sources, the court official ruled against a decision by the state prosecutor to put Barqawi on trial and ordered "his immediate release.”
Barqawi was arrested in October for "using the Internet to propagate the ideas of the terrorist group Al-Nusra Front.”
The decision to free Barqawi, who was once a mentor of slain al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, comes only a day after Amman executed two Iraqi al-Qaeda-linked militants in response to the burning death of a Jordanian pilot by the ISIL terrorists.
On Tuesday, the ISIL released a video online showing the Takfiri terrorists set alight Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who had been taken hostage in December 2014. The video showed Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and getting surrounded by flames of fire inside a cage.
The pilot had been captured by the ISIL in December last year, when his plane went down in northern Syria during a mission against the terrorist group.
Issam Barqawi, also known as Mohammed al-Maqdisi, was released on Thursday upon a decision by the head of the state security court.
According to the security sources, the court official ruled against a decision by the state prosecutor to put Barqawi on trial and ordered "his immediate release.”
Barqawi was arrested in October for "using the Internet to propagate the ideas of the terrorist group Al-Nusra Front.”
The decision to free Barqawi, who was once a mentor of slain al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, comes only a day after Amman executed two Iraqi al-Qaeda-linked militants in response to the burning death of a Jordanian pilot by the ISIL terrorists.
On Tuesday, the ISIL released a video online showing the Takfiri terrorists set alight Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who had been taken hostage in December 2014. The video showed Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and getting surrounded by flames of fire inside a cage.
The pilot had been captured by the ISIL in December last year, when his plane went down in northern Syria during a mission against the terrorist group.