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A wrongheaded act

Syria al-Qa’ida rebels apologise for beheading the wrong man, reports the Irish Independent:

Syrian rebel fighters linked with al-Qaeda have begged for forgiveness from Allah after cutting off the head of one of their allies by mistake.

In a video posted on YouTube, fighters affiliated to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were pictured holding up the head of a bearded man before a crowd in Aleppo, claiming that he was an Iraqi Shia fighting for President Assad.

Several people recognised the dead man and ISIS began an internal investigation and confirmed that the dead man was probably Muhammad Fares, a Sunni Islamist rebel whose group fights alongside ISIS.

11 comments to A wrongheaded act

  • Spruance

    They would’nt want to discriminate, would they?

  • Well it seems, no matter your justice system or your political and/or religious philosophy, the main problem with the death penalty is pretty much the same: mistakes are permanent.

    Best regards

  • bloke in spain

    Maybe we get the answer to the 24 virgins/ 24 sultanas dispute.
    Anyone seen the video?
    Is the head smiling?

  • John K

    It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

  • Mr Ed

    When they realised their mistake, I bet they were running around like headless chickens, er…

    I can only surmise that the victim was thinking he was going to be horribly tortured by the people taking him to hospital, thinking that they were Shia militants or Assad’s thugs, so he made an ironic reference to a Shia Iman or two to invoke his own execution on the spot, and the goons presumably took that to be an indication that he was a Shia rather than one of their own, e.g. ‘…by the Imans Ali and Hussein, kill me you dogs…’ perhaps uniforms or identifying marks on clothing might have helped here, and rather than clarify the situation, matters were handled swiftly by those taking him to hospital.

    Mind you, he probably had a less grim death than many taken to a UK NHS hospital by ambulance or otherwise.

    Mistakes happen in war, but this is right up there with H’angus the Monkey in Hartlepool, reportedly lynched as a French spy.

  • RAB

    Shoulda gone to Spec Savers.

  • Steve D

    ‘Syrian rebel fighters linked with al-Qaeda have begged for forgiveness from Allah after cutting off the head of one of their allies by mistake.’

    I hate when that happens.

  • Stephen Willmer

    Just a normal blue on blue, no?

  • Regional

    They sent him to Allah and now want forgiveness?
    What drugs are these people on?

  • Opium of the masses?