Piotr Stańczak (23 July 1966 – 7 February 2009) was a Polish

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

. In February 2009, he was abducted and beheaded in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

by Islamist terrorists, the Tariq Gidar Group .

Abduction

Stańczak was abducted in the city of

Attock Attock ( Punjabi, ), formerly known as Campbellpur (Punjabi, ), is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 36th largest city in the Punjab and 61st largest c ...

in September 2008 after gunmen shot dead his driver, translator and bodyguard with whom he was travelling in a car. His murderers, the Tariq Gidar Group linked to the Pakistani Taliban, said they murdered him because the Pakistani government failed to release

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

prisoners. Officials at the Polish Embassy in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

saw the video of the murder and confirmed that the person who was murdered was Piotr Stańczak.

Murder

The taped murder was reminiscent of the beheading in 2002 of

Daniel Pearl Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' On January 23, 2002, he was kidnapped by Jihadism, jihadist militants while he was on his way to what he had expected wou ...

, at that time the last Westerner to be murdered on video in Pakistan. Stańczak was allegedly offered the opportunity to avoid death by converting to Islam. When Stańczak refused, he was forced to read statements before his murder. The video shows Stańczak asking the Polish government not to send troops to Afghanistan, which later leads to the masked men cutting off Stańczak's head.

Aftermath

Stańczak's body was later recovered outside a paramilitary camp in

Razmak Razmak (Pashto and ) is one of the three subdivisions of North Waziristan district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The other two subdivisions are Mir Ali and Miran Shah. The inhabitants are almost exclusively Wazir Pashtuns, along ...

and returned to Poland aboard a Pakistani Air Force plane. A brief ceremony was held on the tarmac. The

Polish government The government of Poland takes the form of a Unitary state, unitary semi-presidential republic, semi-presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Poland, president is the head of state and t ...

issued international arrest warrants for the murderers, in addition to offering a 1 million złoty (about $290,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

) reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects. Warsaw also ''"categorically demands from Pakistan's authorities the capture of the culprits of this crime and their punishment with the full severity this act demands"'', according to a statement released by the Polish Foreign Ministry. Poland requested help from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in their efforts to catch the killers. On July 25, 2009, Pakistani police arrested a former parliamentarian with close links to the Taliban,

Shah Abdul Aziz Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dehlavi (11 October 1746 – 5 June 1824) was an Indian Sunni Muslim Scholar and Sufi Saint. He is known as the Muhaddith and Mujaddid from India. He was a member of the Naqshbandi Sufi order. Their tradition inspired ...

, in connection with the murder of Stańczak. A captured member of the Taliban told an anti-terrorism court that he was given orders by Aziz to kill Stańczak. On September 30, 2010, the President of Poland posthumously awarded him the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In November 2017 another

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

commander responsible for multiple kidnappings, including Stańczak, was arrested in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanczak, Piotr Terrorism deaths in Pakistan Foreign hostages in Pakistan Pakistan–Poland relations 2009 deaths 20th-century Polish geologists 1960s births People from Krosno County Polish expatriates in Pakistan Filmed executions in Pakistan Executed Polish people Polish terrorism victims 21st-century Polish geologists People murdered in Pakistan Polish people murdered abroad People executed for refusing to convert to Islam Islamism-related beheadings

Abduction

Murder

Aftermath

See also

References