Jordanian authorities acquitted the Salafi preacher Essam al-Barqawi, dubbed Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, on Thursday, in return to his role as a mediator between Jordan's government and ISIS to release the late pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh, the preacher revealed. In his first comments to the media, Al-Maqdisi told Ro'ya TV channel that he had contacted top commanders of the Islamic State, including the Khalifa, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to convince them to exchange Lt. Al-Kasasbeh for Sajida al-Rishawy, who was a prisoner in Jordan. "They lied to me," al-Maqdisi said during the interview : "One of the IS elements told me that they were serious about the deal, but I found out that Kasasbeh had already been burned alive." Al-Maqdisi condemned ISIS's crimes, saying that Islam is not responsible for their deeds. Former Jordanian information minister, Sameeh al-Ma'aita, told Al-Arabiya.net that Jordan had started to use moderate preachers to confront ISIS ideologies. The net added that one of the reasons the government has acquitted Al-Maqdisi is to deliver a message that they know the difference between terrorists and moderate Salafis. Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi is a Salafi jihadi preacher. He had once been the spiritual mentor of the Jordanian mujahid, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the first leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The two, however, had conflicting views in 2004 due to Zarqawi's extremist (‘takfeeri') proclamations and Maqdisi's objection to killing civilians. Maqdisi was released from Jordanian prison in June 2014, after serving a five year term in 2011, accused of recruiting jihadists to fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. He went back to prison last October, accused of using the internet to promote ideas of a terrorist group, which is the Syria-based organisation, Al-Nusra Front.
