Peter Edward Kassig (February 19, 1988 – c. November 16, 2014), also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, was an American aid worker who was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[1][2]
Kassig next worked in Syria and Lebanon as a humanitarian worker. He aided Syrian refugees through Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA),[10] a non-governmental organization he founded in the Fall of 2012 to provide refugees in Syria and Lebanon with medical assistance, supplies, clothing, and food.[5][7][11][12] Kassig was a trained medical assistant.[13]
Kidnapping and death
On October 1, 2013, as he was on his way to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria to deliver food and medical supplies to refugees, Kassig was taken captive by ISIL.[7][14] He was kept in a cell with French journalist Nicolas Hénin and British journalist John Cantlie, and beaten regularly.[12] While in captivity, Kassig – formerly a Methodist – converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig, sometime between October and December 2013.[6][15] On October 3, 2014, his parents released a video in which they stressed that his conversion to Islam was not forced, and that his path to conversion began before he was taken captive.[6]
Kassig was named as the next victim to be beheaded in the video released by ISIL on October 3, 2014, that showed Alan Henning's beheading.[16] On October 3, his family sent a video message to the Islamic State, asking for mercy for their son.[17] Kassig's mother later tweeted an entreaty to the leader of the Islamic State over Twitter, asking to communicate with him, and Kassig's parents maintained Facebook[18] and Twitter[19] accounts.[20]
On November 16, 2014, ISIL posted a video showing "Jihadi John" standing over a severed human head.[21] The beheading itself was not shown in the video. The White House later confirmed the person killed was Kassig.[22]The Daily Telegraph and the security expert Will Geddes speculated that Kassig may have defied his captors, and refused to provide a beheading video statement.[23] In an al-Qaeda magazine interview, spokesman Adam Yahiye Gadahn condemned the beheading.[24]
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