(VOVworld) - The Libyan branch of the Islamic State claimed Thursday that it has executed 2 Tunisian journalists who went missing in September. In an online statement accompanied by photos of Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, IS militants said they "applied the law of Allah" against the two journalists, who worked for "a satellite channel that fights religion". According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Chourabi was an investigative journalist and Ktari was a photographer for a new Tunisian channel called First TV.
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| Tunisians take part in a demonstration to ask for the release of blogger and anti-Islamist activist Sofiene Chourabi and photographer Nadhir Ktari. (Photo: AFP) |
The Tunusian public was shocked by the execution. Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi declared the journalists innocent and expressed his hope this information is not true.
There has not been any official confirmation.
On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that IS militants beheaded a Syrian imam of a mosque in the village of Abu Khuyut near Hasakeh city, north Syria, for "insulting” God. The imam was detained after he watched a video of executions carried out by IS and curse. It is the first time the jihadists have executed a religious official for cursing.