Did the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group really offer Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh a shred of kindness by heavily sedating him before burning him alive?
ISIS earlier released a video of his death entitled "Healing the Believers' Chests" and showed the 26-year-old trapped inside a cage as he was later burned alive.
But the terror group now is minimizing the blow of his horrific death by claiming they heavily sedated him before he was torched so that his pain would be minimized.
The Daily Mail reported this claim on Saudi Arabian site burnews.com, with one Jihadist militant asserting that Kasasbeh "was so heavily sedated he had no idea what was about to happen to him."
The report further asserted that the pilot felt no pain as there were no screams heard in the audio. There are also some unspecified "observers" that said that the pilot's "sensory centres" allegedly burned quickly, further supporting the militant group's claims that he didn't feel any prolonged pain during the torturous inferno.
"It is important to note that Kasasbeh seemed unconscious and unaware of what awaits him and not, as some have said, that he is not afraid," the observers noted.
Whatever the reason ISIS might have of spreading the pilot's alleged sedation, it seems like both the U.S. and Jordan are not placated.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the video "just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization. Whatever ideology they're operating off of, it's bankrupt."
Jordan, on the other hand, declared an all-out war on ISIS. No sooner had they released the video that the Middle East country executed two of its ISIS prisoners and carried out 56 airstrikes within three days' time. King Abdullah II of Jordan said that ISIS will get nothing more than "relentless war" for its actions, and has committed to do everything possible to defeat the jihadists.
"We are waging this war to protect our faith, our values and human principles and our war for their sake will be relentless and will hit them in their own ground," he said said last week.
Christian churches in Jordan offered a different approach. They first offered prayers and condolences to Kasasbeh's Muslim family, then called for unity.
Father Rifat Bader of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Amman said that Christians are holding prayer vigils for religious harmony "so that religions will constitute a factor conducive for peace, harmony and unity among people, rather than a factor leading to division, killing, oppression and dispute."
