Islamic Inhumanity > Swedish Jihadist gets life again for part in burning pilot alive

 

Sweden jihadist jailed for life over Jordan pilot burned alive

Stockholm (AFP) – A Stockholm court on Thursday handed down a life term to Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem over the 2015 murder of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the Islamic State group in Syria.

The Swedish court was the first to try a person over the killing that sparked outrage around the world.

Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said "the investigation has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and allowed himself to be filmed."

Although video evidence showed that another man lit the fire, the judge said the "defendant's actions contributed so significantly to the death of the victim that he should be considered a perpetrator".

Krayem, who is serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016, was given a life sentence for "serious war crimes and terrorist crimes"

On December 24, 2014, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria.

Maaz al-Kassasbeh was burnt alive in a cage © HO / FAMILY HO/AFP/File

The pilot, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, was captured the same day by IS fighters near the central city of Raqqa and was burned alive in a cage sometime before February 3, 2015, when a slickly-produced video of the gruesome killing was published, according to the prosecution.

Gullesjo said Krayem's actions consisted of "guarding the victim both before and during the execution and taking him to the cage where he was set alight while still alive".

The court also awarded compensation to the parents and siblings of the Jordanian pilot, amounting to 80,000 Swedish kronor ($8,200) each.

'Comfort' for family

Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact date of the murder, but the investigation has identified the location.

The 32-year-old jihadist remained silent throughout the hearings, which lasted between June 4 and June 26, though segments from interrogations with Krayem conducted during the investigation were read out and played during the trial.

The fact that the defendent did not speak did not "significantly impact the ruling, as the prosecution presented solid evidence, and the investigation was thorough," Gullesjo told AFP.

According to his lawyer, Krayem insisted he had spent only 15 to 20 minutes on-site, unaware of what was going to happen until he saw the cameras.

"This verdict somewhat comforts the family," the pilot's brother Jawdat al-Kassasbeh, who was a civil party to the case, told AFP.

"We thank Sweden and the impartial Swedish judiciary for their efforts in pursuing this case," the brother added.

He travelled from Jordan for the trial to testify to the pain, still raw, that he shares with his loved ones.

No remorse

The family's lawyer lamented in court that Krayem showed no empathy or remorse for his actions.

"Most people who witnessed what Maaz went through would undoubtedly need lifelong, or at least long-term, treatment to overcome the trauma that this causes in a normal individual," Mikael Westerlund told the court.

"Krayem, on the other hand, does not seem to have been traumatised, but inspired. Inspired to continue his terrorist activities, which led him to participate in and then be convicted of terrorist acts in Europe," Westerlund added.

Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for helping plan the November 2015 Paris attacks and to life imprisonment in Belgium for the 2016 attacks at Brussels' main airport and metro station.

On March 12, France agreed to hand him over to Sweden for nine months, the time needed for the investigation and trial.

He must be returned to France by December 27 at the latest, the Stockholm court said Thursday.

"Jordanians will always remember this horrible crime," Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani told AFP.

"This decision is a significant step towards achieving justice."

© 2025 AFP

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Military Madness > F-35s - The $100mn piece of junk; Pilot ejects from F-35 in storm, plane flies another 60 miles; Canada's $19bn mistake

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Pentagon’s $1.7T F-35 jets have ‘maintenance issues,’

finish missions barely half the time: feds

By Josh Christenson and Caitlin Doornbos

Published Sep. 21, 2023, 6:58 p.m. ET

NYPost

The US military is set to spend at least $1.7 trillion on nearly 2,500 F-35 fighter jets that have “costly maintenance issues” — and have a coin flip chance of completing their missions, according to a new government report released Thursday.

The F-35 air fleet was included as a line item in last year’s annual defense budget, but the Pentagon remains “behind schedule” in maintaining the fighter jets, the Government Accountability Office found.

The GAO report also showed the $100-million-apiece F-35s are capable of performing missions just 55% of the time, and more than 10,000 of the aircraft have been grounded for repairs. Just 450 are currently fielded.

That's 4.5%!  Now Canada, after more than a decade of deciding, finally chose the useless piece of expensive garbage for its military.

It also cited delays in “setting up military service depots — facilities to complete the most complex repairs,” “inadequate equipment to keep aircraft operational” and “maintenance and supply delays affecting aircraft readiness.”

F-35 - The Pentagon is poised to spend $1.7 trillion on nearly 2,500 F-35 fighter jets resulting from

“costly maintenance issues” it faces in operating and repairing the aircraft. REUTERS

The findings raise concerns about one of the US military’s most expensive weapons systems just days after a pilot ejected from an F-35 over South Carolina due to what officials described as a “malfunction.”

The jet was lost in bad weather and the unidentified pilot apparently bailed from the cockpit before turning on the aircraft’s tracking system — causing it to be lost for days before debris was found in a wooded area in Williamsburg County, roughly 60 miles from the North Charleston residential neighborhood into which the pilot parachuted.

See story immediately below.

“Over the life of the F-35 program, sustainment has only recently been prioritized and difficult decisions regarding sustainment continue to be Delayed,” the report states.

GAO report - The Defense Department remains “behind schedule” in maintaining the fighter jets, the Government Accountability Office found. GAO

“DOD and the military services have the opportunity to take a different path and chart an affordable path forward. The preparedness of our military depends upon it.”

The F-35 has the unique ability to land vertically, allowing pilots the opportunity to touch down nearly anywhere – including on Navy ships at sea. It’s a feature that defense experts say could play a valuable role should conflict with China break out in the Western Pacific.

Of the available funds, $1.3 trillion have been allocated for “operating and sustaining the aircraft.”

The Pentagon - More than 10,000 of the aircraft have been grounded for repairs. Just 450 are currently fielded. AFP/Getty Images

The Pentagon, where, IMHO, billions of dollars are wasted every second.

The government watchdog toured two depots and all 15 installations for the F-35s before issuing Thursday’s report.

The GAO recommended that the Pentagon retain management of all F-35s by October 2027 — and leave less control of the fleet up to government contractors.

Several years ago I watched the TV series "Madam Secretary".  While left wing in their approach, of course, they pointed out that the F35 was a disaster and one of the reasons was that parts for the jet were made in every state of the union. This is how Deep State controls Congress. 

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911 call shows bizarre circumstances of F-35 ejection:

‘Not sure where the airplane is,’ pilot says

BY TARA COPP AND JAMES POLLARD

Updated 7:22 PM PDT, September 21, 2023

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A military pilot whose advanced fighter jet went temporarily missing over the weekend is heard repeatedly requesting an ambulance in a perplexing 911 call from the South Carolina home where he had parachuted to safety, according to an audio recording released Thursday to The Associated Press.

Temporarily missing for more than a day!

In a 911 call, a Charleston resident reports a pilot parachuted into his backyard.

The four-minute recording captures the bizarre circumstances for the three unidentified people involved: a North Charleston resident calmly explaining that a pilot just parachuted into his backyard, the pilot who doesn’t know what became of his F-35 jet, and a puzzled dispatcher trying to make sense of it all.

“We got a pilot in the house, and I guess he landed in my backyard, and we’re trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house, please,” the resident said.

The pilot, who said he was 47, reported feeling “OK” after falling what he estimated was 2,000 feet. Only his back hurt, he said. The resident said the pilot looked fine.

In a 911 call, an operator speaking to the pilot about possible injuries from a fall.

“Ma’am, a military jet crashed. I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling,” the pilot said. “I’m not sure where the airplane is. It would have crash landed somewhere. I ejected.”

Later in the call, he made another plea for medical help.

“Ma’am, I’m a pilot in a military aircraft, and I ejected. So I just rode a parachute down to the ground. Can you please send an ambulance?” the pilot said.

In a 911 call made from a resident’'s home, a military jet pilot explains he had to eject from his plane.

The Marines have described the pilot as an experienced aviator with decades of experience in the cockpit.

The F-35 crashed Sunday after a malfunction prompted the pilot to eject over Charleston and land in the residential backyard not far from Charleston International Airport.

The fighter jet, which the Marine Corps said was at an altitude of only about 1,000 feet (300 meters), kept flying for 60 miles (100 kilometers) until it crashed in a rural area near Indiantown. It took more than a day to locate the wreckage.

In a separate eight-minute dispatch call released Thursday to the AP, an unidentified official tried explaining that they had “a pilot with his parachute” but no information about what happened to his plane or word of a crash. He said “the pilot lost sight of it on his way down due to the weather.”

The official also recalled hearing a “rather loud noise” about 25 minutes prior that “sounded something like a tornado, possibly a plane.”

The Marine Corps said Thursday that a feature on fighter jets intended to protect pilots in emergencies could explain how the F-35 managed to continue its travels. They said that while it was unclear why the jet kept flying, flight control software would have worked to keep it steady if there were no longer a pilot’s hands on the controls.

“If the jet is stable in level flight, the jet will attempt to stay there. If it was in an established climb or descent, the jet will maintain a 1G state in that climb or descent until commanded to do something else,” the Marine Corps said in a statement. “This is designed to save our pilots if they are incapacitated or lose situational awareness.”

Other questions about the crash remained, notably why the plane wasn’t tracked as it continued flying over South Carolina and how it could take more than a day to find a massive fighter jet that had flown over populated, although rural, areas.

The Marines said features that erase a jet’s secure communications in case of an ejection — a feature designed to protect both the pilot’s location and the plane’s classified systems — may also have complicated efforts to find it.

“Normally, aircraft are tracked via radar and transponder codes,” the Marines said. 

“Upon pilot ejection, the aircraft is designed to erase (or ‘zeroize’) all secure communication.”

The plane would have kept broadcasting an identifier on an open channel to identify itself as friend or foe — but even on an unclassified communications channel air traffic control may not have been able to pick up the signal depending on how powerful its radar was, the weather at the time, how high the plane was flying and the terrain, the Marines said. They said thunderstorms and low cloud ceilings further hampered the search for the plane.

“When coupled with the F-35’s stealth capabilities, tracking the jet had to be done through non-traditional means,” the service said in its statement.

The incident is still under investigation and results from an official review board could take months.

However, the Marines said the feature that kept the plane flying may not only have saved the life of the pilot but of others on the ground.

“The good news is it appeared to work as advertised. The other bit of silver lining in this case is that through the F-35 flying away it avoided crashing into a densely populated area surrounding the airport, and fortunately crashed into an empty field and forested area,” the statement said.

A $100mn USD, aircraft abandoned

That's the silver lining even though it was either pure dumb luck, or the Hand of God that dropped that jet in the woods. But what's curious is, why did the pilot eject in the first place if the plane was able to fly on a stable course and altitude for another 60 miles? Something must have spooked the pilot who was very experienced and capable. Why didn't the pilot point the plane toward the ocean? Why didn't he climb to give more time for his parachute to open?

If it was a particularly bad thunderstorm, could the pilot not see it on his radar? Could the GCA at Charleston Int'l A not see it and advise the pilot to avoid it? Very strange!

Canada agrees $14 billion deal for F-35 stealth fighter jets

By Brad Lendon, CNN

Published 12:11 AM EST, Tue January 10, 2023

US military personnel work near an F-35 fighter jet of the Vermont Air National Guard, in the military base at Skopje Airport, North Macedonia, on June 17, 2022.

Boris Grdanoski/AP

CNN

 — 

Canada is buying 88 F-35 stealth fighter jets in a $14.2 billion deal announced Monday by the Ottawa government.

The first of the US-made planes are expected to enter the Royal Canadian Air Force in 2026 with the full fleet being operational by 2033 or 2034, a Canadian government news release said.

Of course, operational is a very optimistic word. We have seen by the top story above that only 4.5% of Americas fleet of 10,000 F-35s are actually operational because of horrendous maintenance problems. If that ratio also applies in Canada, then we can expect 3 or 4 of the jets to be operational on any given day.

With the deal, Canada becomes the last of the F-35 program’s original eight partners to acquire the fifth-generation fighter, regarded as one of the best fighter jets in the world. - When they are working, unless there's a storm.

“In today’s complex global environment, Canada requires a military that is flexible, agile and capable of responding to a variety of unforeseen situations,” Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said in a statement.

“As the rules-based international order is challenged around the world, the F-35 will be essential for protecting Canadians, enhancing Arctic security and national sovereignty, and enabling Canada to meet its NATO, NORAD and other obligations well into the future,” the statement said.

NORAD is a joint US-Canadian command that provides air and missile defense for North America.

Manufacturer Lockheed Martin has seen a rush of interest in the F-35 over the past year, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Which is the whole point of the proxy war in Ukraine - to sell weapons to Europe.

Germany, Switzerland and Finland made deals for the F-35 in 2022, while NATO allies Greece and the Czech Republic also announced requests to buy the stealth fighters.

Besides the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, F-35s are also in or soon to be part of the fleets of Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Poland, Belgium and Singapore.

How many trillions of dollars is that for the USA, at $100mn each?

The jets come in three versions, the standard F-35A, the short-take off and vertical landing F-35B, and the aircraft carrier version, the F-35C.

Canada will buy the F-35A model to replace its aging CF-18s.

“Canada requires a fighter fleet to protect the sovereignty of one of the largest expanses of airspace in the world” – the country’s vast Arctic frontier – Anand said.

To that end, the $14.2 billion (19 billion Canadian dollars) price tag includes construction at two air bases in Alberta and Quebec, and associated equipment and services, the government said.

The announcement said the program is expected to generate 3,300 jobs annually over 25 years and contribute $310 million ($425 million Canadian) annually to the country’s gross domestic product.

As an original member of the F-35 program, Canadian industry has seen $2.8 billion in contracts to date related to the construction of the fighter jet, the government said.

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Delta Flight 15 on 911 - An Amazing Story!

AN AMAZING STORY...

Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11:

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic.

All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland (sic) Newfoundland, or Newfoundland and Labrador.

He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately -- no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.

While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.

We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander , New Foundland, to have it checked out.

We promised to give more information after landing in Gander .. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM .... that's 11:00 AM EST.

There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the US.

Gander A

After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason."

Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.

The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane.

In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were US commercial jets.

Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC.

People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.

Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm.

We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.

We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning.

Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing.

And they were true to their word.

Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross.

After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander!

We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the US airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.

We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.

Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.

Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days.

What we found out was incredible.....

Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers.

Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.

ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests."

Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged.

Lewisporte

Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes.

Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility.There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests.

The "Silent Witness" Arrow Air Flight 1285 memorial at Gander Lake,
with a DC-8 taking off in the background

Arrow Air Flight 1285 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF jetliner, registered N950JW, which operated as an international charter flight carrying U.S. troops from Cairo, Egypt, to their home base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

On the morning of Thursday, 12 December 1985, shortly after takeoff from Gander en route to Fort Campbell, the aircraft stalled, crashed, and burned about half a mile from the runway, killing all 248 passengers and 8 crew members on board. To date, it retains the highest death toll of any aviation accident on Canadian soil and the second-highest of any accident involving a DC-8, behind the crash of Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 six years later.

Lewisporte Marina

Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests.

Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft.

In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully.

It was absolutely incredible.

When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling.

Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

And then a very unusual thing happened.

One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers.

He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.

"He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte.

He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!

"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia , promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.

As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them.

It reminds me how much good there is in the world."

"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today's world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.

Jordan Pilot Hostage Moaz al-Kasasbeh 'Burned Alive'

In an act of unspeakable horror and evil, IS has made it clear that there is no going back to the world as it was. There is an evil among us that is nearly unprecedented and it will not be eliminated by the efforts of man; it will require the very presence of God to destroy it.

Lt Moaz al-Kasasbeh had been held hostage since his plane came down on 24 Dec.

A video published online by Islamic State (IS) militants claims to show Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive.

The video, which could not immediately be verified, shows a man standing in a cage and engulfed in flames.

Lt Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured when his plane came down near Raqqa, Syria, in December on a mission to support the US-led military coalition against IS.

Jordanian state TV confirmed the death and said he was killed a month ago.

The video posted online on Tuesday was distributed via a Twitter account known as a source for IS propaganda.

A relative of Lt Kasasbeh told Reuters news agency that the Jordanian armed forces had informed the family that he had been killed.

The BBC's Frank Gardner says that the video is clearly intended to shock.

The highly produced 22-minute film includes a sequence showing the Jordanian pilot walking at gunpoint amongst rubble apparently caused by coalition air strikes that targeted jihadists.

Jordan had been attempting to secure Lt Kasasbeh's release as part of a prisoner swap.

It had offered to free Sajida al-Rishawi, who is on death row in Jordan for her role in hotel bombings in Amman in 2005, in return for the release of Lt Kasasbeh.

The video emerged three days after another video appeared to show the dead body of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.

The US state department said it was working to confirm the authenticity of the video.

US President Barack Obama said in a statement that if the video was real, it would be "one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity" of IS.

"I think it will redouble the vigilance and determination of the part of the global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated," he added.


Kevin Connolly, BBC Middle East Correspondent

Safi Yousef, father of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, in Amman, 30 Jan. 2015
Relatives had gathered around Lt Kasasbeh's father

The male members of the al-Kasasbeh family had been gathering every day at a community centre not far from the royal palace in Amman. Cousins, brothers and uncles maintained a vigil of support for Moaz's father, who sat anxious but dignified in a red chequered headdress and long flowing black robe.

After the murder of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto the mood darkened, and one of the pilot's uncles, retired police general Fahd al-Kasasbeh, was close to tears as he asked the BBC to help relay a direct appeal to the hostage takers.

There were family members who hoped Lt Kasasbeh would be treated with lenience because he was a Muslim, while others feared he'd be harshly dealt with as an enemy pilot. And all along on both sides of the argument was the nagging fear that no proof of life was received, no photographs and no video.

The family's reaction, of course, will be one of deep grief and distress. But in wider Jordanian society, there will be pressure for the government to hit back. An implicit threat to speed up the execution of IS prisoners in Jordanian jails, where some are already on death row, may now be carried out.