06 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018 world Dutchman, 69, IS leader linked to loses legal bid to be beheadings killed 20 years younger US-led coalition kills IS leader linked to the beheading of an American aid worker Abu al-Umarayn was accused• of involvement in the November Emile Ratelband, 69, answers journalists’ questions in Amsterdam, following 2014 beheading of the court’s ruling regarding his legal bid to slash 20 years off his age. Peter Kassig viously said he felt discrimi- The Hague, Netherlands nated against because of his AFP | Beirut, Lebanon advanced years, adding that Dutch court yesterday while he did not need dating he US-led coalition A slapped down an attempt apps, the custom of giving his against the Islamic State by a self-described “young age to a prospective lover was Tgroup said yesterday it god” just shy of his 70th birth- cramping his style. killed a senior jihadist involved day to slash his age by 20 years “I am a young god, I can have in the executions of an Ameri- to enhance his prospects in life all the girls that I want, but not can aid worker and other West- and love. after I tell them that I am 69,” ern hostages. In an unprecedented case, he recently said. Abu al-Umarayn was accused the Arnhem District Court told “I feel young, I am in great of involvement in the November “positivity guru” Emile Ratel- shape and I want this to be 2014 beheading of Peter Kassig, band it will not adhere to his legally recognised because I a former US ranger who was request to shift his birthdate feel abused, aggrieved and dis- doing volunteer humanitarian two decades later to March criminated against because of work when captured in 2013. Peter Kassig with a truck, taken somewhere along the Syrian border between (video released on August 19) 11, 1969. my age,” Ratelband “He was killed and more in- late 2012 and fall 2013 Another hostage held at the “Mr Ratelband is at lib - said as he took his formation will be available after down IS fighters in Iraq and Syr- medicine to the needy. time and whose execution was erty to feel 20 years young - case to court. a full assessment,” Sean Ryan, ia since 2014, has announced the He took the name Abdul Rah- threatened was British journal- er than his real age and to Although judg- spokesman for the US-led coali- killing of a jihadist leader linked man after converting to Islam. ist John Cantlie. act accordingly,” the judges es “recognised tion, said in a statement issued to Kassig’s death. Before Kassig’s decapitation, He later appeared in videos in said. that there was a after the Sunday strikes. At the time of the execution, which IS announced on Novem- which he uttered IS propaganda “But amending his date of trend in society “Al Umarayn had given indi- IS released a video showing Kas- ber 16, four other hostages were but, more than six years after birth would cause 20 years for people to feel cations of posing an imminent sig’s severed head but did not executed by IS: his kidnapping, his fate remains of records to vanish from fit and healthy threat to coalition forces and publish footage of the decapi- - British aid worker Alan Hen- unclear. the register of births, deaths, for longer, it did he was involved in the killing of tation, as it had done for other ning (video released on October The leader of the cell which marriages and registered part- not regard that American citizen and former US hostages. 3) was responsible for the exe - nerships,” it said, adding that as a valid argu- Army Ranger, Peter Kassig,” he Kassig founded a humanitar- - British aid worker David cutions and became known as “this would have a variety of ment for amend- said. Ryan said the jihadist had ian organisation in 2012 that Haines (video released on Sep- “The Beatles” was believed to undesirable legal and societal ing a person’s also been involved in the execu- trained some 150 civilians to tember 13) be Mohammed Emwazi, a Brit- implications.” date of birth,” tion of several other prisoners. provide medical aid to people in - US journalist Steven Sotloff ish jihadist nicknamed “Jihadi Ratelband, a well-known the court said It is the first time the coali- Syria. His group also gave food, (video released on September 2) John” who was killed in a drone life coach who specialises in in a statement tion, which has been hunting cooking supplies, clothing and - US journalist James Foley strike in 2015. “self awareness training”, pre- yesterday. Soyuz heads to ISS on first manned mission since failure AFP | Baikonur, Kazakhstan of worry as they boarded a bus on the ground are ready to do Soyuz rocket carrying to take them to the launch. They every launch,” he said. Russian, American and smiled and waved, with Saint- Of the trio set to reach the ISS ACanadian astronauts Jacques blowing kisses and giv- six hours after blast-off, both took off from Kazakhstan and ing the thumbs-up to a crowd of Saint-Jacques and McClain are reached orbit on Monday, in the KNOW WHAT well-wishers. flying for the first time. first manned mission since a At a press conference on the Kononenko is beginning his failed launch in October. eve of the launch, crew com - fourth mission to add to an im- Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kon- Saint-Jacques mander Kononenko said the pressive 533 days in space. onenko, Anne McClain of NASA astronauts “absolutely” trusted The veteran said and David Saint-Jacques of the will be the first teams preparing for the flight. the crew would Canadian Space Agency blasted Canadian astronaut conduct a off for a six-and-a-half month to visit the space Risk ‘part of our profession’ spacewalk on mission on the International station since Chris “Risk is part of our profes - December Space Station at the expected Hadfield, who sion,” the 54-year-old said. “We 11 as part of time of 1131 GMT. recorded a version are psychologically and techni- an investi- A few minutes after their rock- of David Bowie’s cally prepared for blast-off and gation into et lifted off from the Baikonur any situation which, God forbid, a mysterious Cosmodrome, Russian space “Space Oddity” on may occur on board.” hole that has agency Roscomos announced board in 2013. McClain, a 39-year-old for- caused an air that the capsule was “success- mer military pilot, said the crew leak on the ISS. fully launched into orbit”. off, forcing the pair to make an looked forward to going up. NASA administrator Jim Bri- emergency landing. “We feel very ready for it,” she denstine confirmed on Twitter They escaped unharmed but said. that the crew were “safely in the failed launch -- the first such Saint-Jacques, 48, described orbit” and thanked the US and incident in Russia’s post-Sovi- the Soyuz spacecraft as “incred- Russian teams “for their dedi- et history -- raised concerns ibly safe”. cation to making this launch a about the state of the Soyuz The accident highlighted the success”. programme. “smart design of the Soyuz and It was the first manned launch The Soyuz is the only means of the incredible work that the for the Soviet-era Soyuz since reaching the ISS since the United search and rescue people here October 11, when a rocket car- States retired the space shuttle rying Russia’s Aleksey Ovchinin in 2011. Top-bottom: David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian and US astronaut Nick Hague Kononenko, McClain and Space Agency, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and failed just minutes after blast- Saint-Jacques showed no signs Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko gesture as they board the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft.