Similar Alan Henning, John Cantlie, Jihadi John | ||
Peter Edward Kassig (February 19, 1988 – c. November 16, 2014), also known by the name Abdul-Rahman Kassig, which he assumed in captivity, was 26 years old at the time he was beheaded. He was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was the adopted child of Ed, a school teacher, and Paula Kassig, a nurse.
Biography
He attended North Central High School in Indianapolis, graduating in 2006. Kassig then became a U.S. Army Ranger, with an army special operations unit, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, serving from June 2006 to September 2007. His service including training in Fort Benning, Georgia, and a four-month deployment to Iraq, from April to July 2007, when he received a medical discharge. Thereafter, he was a student at Hanover College (which he attended from 2007–09) and Butler University (which he attended from spring 2011 to 2012, majoring in political science).
Kassig next worked in Syria and Lebanon as a humanitarian worker. He aided Syrian refugees through Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA), 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. Kassig was a trained medical assistant.
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. He was kept in a cell with French journalist Nicolas Henin and British journalist John Cantlie, and beaten regularly. While in captivity, Kassig – formerly a Methodist – converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig, sometime between October and December 2013. 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.
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. On October 3, his family sent a video message to the Islamic State, asking for mercy for their son. 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 maintain Facebook and Twitter accounts.
On November 16, 2014, ISIL posted a video showing "Jihadi John" standing over a severed human head. The beheading itself was not shown in the video. The White House later confirmed the person killed was Kassig. 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.