Al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Syria have killed an Italian Jesuit priest who disappeared in the east of the country late last month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Paolo Dall’Oglio, a vocal supporter of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and some Islamist rebel groups, disappeared in the rebel-held city of Raqqa on July 29.
He had served for three decades at the Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian, or Deir Mar Musa, before being expelled from the country in 2012. Since then he had returned to Syria at least twice.
The British-based monitoring group cited local activists in the city of Raqqa with close links to Dall’Oglio as saying he was killed while being held by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
It was not immediately possible to confirm the report.
The Observatory urged all Syrian opposition forces to pressure the ISIL fighters to reveal exactly what happened to Dall’Oglio “so his killers can be held to account, and to hand over his body for burial”.
Activists initially said he was kidnapped by the ISIL fighters, although some later said he had been meeting the al Qaeda-linked fighters to agree a truce with Kurdish brigades.
Paolo Dall’Oglio Reported Dead: Missing Jesuit Priest Killed In Syria According To Human Rights Group
Reuters
14 AUGUST, 2013
Responding to the news, ODFS Director, Ribal Al-Assad said:
“The murder of Father Dall’Oglio exemplifies everything that is wrong with this conflict, he was kidnapped and murdered because of his faith and because he spoke on the side of freedom.
Father Dall’Oglio gave much of his life to helping Syria and her people; he was part of the plural tapestry which makes Syria such a beautiful mosaic nation. We must not let his death be in vain; we must all come together now and call for a free and democratic Syria where all religions, creeds and cultures live in harmony.
We cannot let extremism and terrorism win, it is simply not an option. My Prayers are with the family of Father Dall’Oglio at this time.”
