The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that an Islamic State militant has publicly executed his own mother after accusing her of apostasy.
According to an activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RIBSS), 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.
The militant’s mother is said to have been accused of apostasy – a crime that usually means leaving one’s religion but in practice is used by the Islamic State as a justification for murdering anybody who doesn’t support or speaks out against the terror group.
Sources from the observatory said that the exact charge against Ms al-Qasem was “inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside of Raqqa.”
The British-based monitor noted that Ali Saqr al-Qasem had reported his mother to his IS superiors, who then sentenced her to death and ordered him be the one to kill her.