VIENNA, Austria – Jordan’s King Abdullah says that over 100,000 Muslims have been killed by Daesh (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq over the past year, adding the world needs a “holistic approach” on dealing with the terrorist scourge.
Abdullah says he is optimistic the world will come together to fight terror in the wake of the Paris attacks, noting they were only the latest in a series of attacks that represent a global threat.
He was on an official visit to Austria when he made the comments to reporters.
On Monday, a Jordanian man who defected from Daesh and turned himself in to Jordanian authorities was sentenced to four years in jail.
The man, in his 30s, was accused of “membership in terrorist groups”.
He had traveled to Syria via Turkey and joined Daesh at its self-declared capital in Raqqa where he trained in the use of weapons, according to the charge sheet.
But the man soon realized that Daesh action was “contrary to sharia (Islamic) law” and decided to defect, returning home in July and turning himself in to authorities, it said.
He said he had joined Daesh after a friend convinced him that fighting in Syria and Iraq is a “duty”.
Jordan is a key Arab member of the US-led coalition battling Daesh in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
Last year it amended its anti-terror law to make it an offence to “belong to or attempt to join any armed group or terrorist organization”.
