Giovanni Lo Porto's family said
Thursday that al-Qaeda claims that the Italian hostage and a
fellow captive, American Warren Weinstein, converted to Islam
before being killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in January
were nothing more than a slur.
The SITE Intelligence Group cited al-Qaeda in the Indian
Subcontinent (AQIS) as making the claim.
AQIS posted online photos of the two captives dated
January 14, 24 hours before the raid.
"We are indignant and disgusted by what is being written,"
his sister-in-law Giovanna Piazza told ANSA in the name of the
whole family.
"Not only did they kill him, now they are covering his
name in mud.
"He was a pearl of a person, a golden person. Knowing him,
he would never have converted. He believed only in one God".
Lo Porto, a 39-year-old aid worker for German NGO Welt
HungerHilfe, was kidnapped in Pakistan in January 2012.
"His mother is angry and wounded," added Piazza. "Not just
for the pain of losing a son, but also because seeing these
things written months after is an offense to his memory.
"Giovanni died to help others and writing this stuff about
him is shameful".
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