{{Short description|American diplomat (1942–2002)}} {{Infobox person | image = File:Laurence Foley.jpg | caption = Laurence M. Foley | birth_date = {{birth date|1942|10|05}} | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|10|28|1942|10|05}} | death_place = Amman, Jordan | death_cause = Murder by gunshots }}
'''Laurence Michael Foley, Sr.''' (October 5, 1942 – October 28, 2002) was an American diplomat. He was murdered outside his home in Amman, Jordan in 2002.
==Biography== Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Foley became a Peace Corps volunteer in 1965, serving two years in India upon graduating from Boston State College, now University of Massachusetts. After earning a master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling at San Francisco State University in 1969, he served as a probation officer in Contra Costa County, California. He later worked for the Peace Corps, serving as Associate Director of the Peace Corps program in the Philippines from 1980 to 1985. He served as Director of Administration at the Rehabilitation Services of Northern California until joining the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1988. After working in Bolivia, Peru, and Zimbabwe, Foley became Supervisory Executive Officer of USAID/Jordan in 2000.<ref>{{cite news |last=Labott |first=Elise |date=December 14, 2002 |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/10/29/diplomat.remembered/index.html |title=Foley remembered for 'compassion' |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2002/113.htm |title=In memoriam: Diplomat and public servant Laurence Foley |publisher=San Francisco State University |date=October 31, 2002}}</ref>
==Murder and aftermath== On the morning of October 28, 2002, Foley was killed by gunshots from a 9 mm pistol as he walked to his car outside his Amman home.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2367311.stm |title=US diplomat shot dead in Jordan |publisher=BBC News |date=October 28, 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |date=October 29, 2002 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/world/threats-and-responses-attack-on-us-diplomat-american-envoy-killed-in-jordan.html |title=Threats and Responses: Attack on U.S. Diplomat; American Envoy Killed in Jordan |work=The New York Times}}</ref> On December 14, two men, Libyan Salem bin Suweid and Jordanian Yasser Freihat, were arrested and charged with killing Foley. According to the Jordanian government, the men were paid to kill Foley by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Islamist militant leader, who at that time was the commander of the group named Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/12/14/jordan.killing/ |title=Jordan: Al Qaeda killed U.S. diplomat |publisher=CNN |date=December 14, 2002}}</ref> Though the men confessed, they later claimed they were forced to by Jordanian authorities.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3603949.stm |title=Jordan militants sentenced to die |publisher=BBC News |date=April 6, 2004}}</ref>
In April 2004, the two men were sentenced to death for killing Foley.<ref name=BBC/> Zarqawi was sentenced to death ''in absentia'' for his role in the assassination,<ref name=BBC/> but was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7, 2006.<ref>{{cite news |last=Burns |first=John F. |date=June 8, 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html?_r=0 |title=U.S. Strike Hits Insurgent at Safehouse |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Foley's assassins were executed on March 11, 2006.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4796280.stm |title=Jordan hangs US diplomat killers |publisher=BBC News |date=March 11, 2006}}</ref> Another conspirator, Mohammed Ahmed Youssef al-Jaghbeer, was sentenced to death on July 13, 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/world/middleeast/14briefs-Jordan.html |title=Jordan: Death Sentence in Killing of U.S. Diplomat |work=The New York Times |date=July 13, 2009}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Terrorism in Jordan}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Laurence}} Category:1942 births Category:2002 deaths Category:2000s murders in Jordan Category:2002 crimes in Jordan Category:2002 murders in Asia Category:Diplomats from Boston Category:Assassinated American diplomats Category:Deaths by firearm in Jordan Category:American terrorism victims Category:Terrorism deaths in Jordan Category:American people murdered abroad Category:People murdered in Jordan Category:American expatriates in India Category:American expatriates in the Philippines Category:American expatriates in Jordan Category:People killed by Islamic terrorism