Hundreds attend memorial for slain Ind. aid worker

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

An Indiana aid worker beheaded by Islamic State militants in Syria was praised for his humanitarian work Sunday during a memorial service attended by hundreds that included readings from the Bible and the Quran.

Peter Kassig, who took the first name Abdul-Rahman after converting to Islam during captivity, was remembered as a good man, son, student and volunteer who dedicated himself to helping others and lived a short but full life.

“We’re not here because of how he passed,” said Hazem Bata, executive director Islamic Society of North America in Plainfield. “We’re here because of how he lived. We’re here because of the type of man he chose to be. We’re here because of his selflessness.”

The 26-year-old Indianapolis man was captured last year in eastern Syria while delivering relief supplies to refugees of Syria’s civil war. Kassig, a former U.S. Army ranger who had served in Iraq in 2007, had returned to the Mideast in 2012 and founded a relief organization to help war victims.

His parents, Ed and Paula Kassig of Indianapolis, learned of their son’s capture last year but did not disclose his captivity while family and friends quietly worked to secure his release. In October, their son appeared in another video released by the Islamic State group that showed the beheading of a fellow aid worker, Britain’s Alan Henning. The militants vowed that Kassig would be next, leading his parents to plead publicly for mercy while stressing his humanitarian work and conversion to Islam.

The Muslim community rallied around them, participating in prayer vigils and rallies urging his captors to follow the Quran’s teachings that prohibit Muslims from killing other Muslims.

Speakers at Sunday’s 80-minute service at Clowes Hall at Butler University, which Kassig briefly attended before moving to the Middle East, praised him for his humanitarian work and urged others to use his life as inspiration.