AMMAN, Jordan – Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born filmmaker and producer of the “Halloween” horror movie franchise, died Friday from wounds sustained in the triple hotel bombings in Jordan. He was 75. His daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, 34, also was killed.
Akkad, who lived in Los Angeles, was in Jordan with his daughter to attend a wedding. He died in the Jordanian hospital where he was being treated.
The two were at the wedding celebration at the Radisson SAS Wednesday night when suicide bombers struck it, the Grand Hyatt and the Days Inn in downtown Amman, killing at least 59 people including the three attackers. Rima Akkad Monla, who lives in Beirut, Lebanon, was killed immediately
Akkad also produced and directed “The Message” (1976), a film about Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, and “Lion of the Desert” (1981), which tells the story of a Muslim rebel who fought against the Italy’s World War II conquest of Libya. Both starred Anthony Quinn.
“I did the film because it is a personal thing for me. … Being a Muslim myself who lived in the West, I felt that it was my obligation, my duty to tell the truth about Islam.
With the death of his daughter, Rima, Akkad is survived by three sons, Tarek, Malek and Zeido.
Funeral services for Rima Akkad Monla were scheduled for Friday in Tripoli. Services for Akkad were scheduled Sunday in his hometown of Aleppo, his sister.
May Allah rest their souls in peace, Amen. What a great loss, and how ironic! to be murdered by those who claim to be Muslims who carried out an Islamic duty.
SC, I think he was in town to check out the country for the future Salah il Deen project. it’s just a rumor i heard though
This report is inaccurate i think, he was staying at the Hyatt and not the Radisson SAS, at the moment of the explosion he was at the door of the lobby greeting his daughter who had just arrived, they were meant to be heading to a wedding in Aqaba this weekend.