Sweden charges militant over Jordanian pilot burned to death in a cage in Syria
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Prosecutors Henrik Olin (left) and Reena Devgun delivering a press conference on May 27 in Stockholm, Sweden, regarding the case of accused militant Osama Krayem.
PHOTO: REUTERS
STOCKHOLM - Prosecutors on May 27 charged a Swedish militant over the 2014 killing of a Jordanian pilot, who was burned to death in a cage in Syria after being captured by ISIS.
Osama Krayem, 32, was charged over “participating in the brutal execution of a pilot” near the city of Raqqa, prosecutor Reena Devgun told a press conference.
Krayem, who is already serving a 30-year sentence for involvement in the 2015 attacks in Paris, was charged with “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes”.
According to prosecutors – who announced that they intended to charge Krayem last week – an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria on Dec 24, 2014.
The pilot was captured by ISIS the same day near the central city of Raqqa and killed sometime before Feb 3, 2015.
The execution was filmed, and a 22-minute video accompanied by a specially composed religious chant was published.
In the video, the victim is seen walking past several masked ISIS fighters, including Krayem, according to prosecutors.
The pilot is then locked in a cage that is set on fire, leading to his death, Mr Henrik Olin, the other prosecutor in charge of the case, told reporters.
“This bestial murder, in which a prisoner was burned alive in a cage, was staged in a carefully produced video that was broadcast around the world. Its publication marked an unprecedented escalation in the Islamic State group’s violent propaganda,” Mr Olin said.
Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact day of the murder, but the investigation has identified the location where it took place.
Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined ISIS in Syria in 2014 before returning to Europe.
In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for helping plan the 2015 Paris attacks, in which 130 people died.
The following year, he was given a life sentence in Belgium for participating in the bombings on March 22, 2016, at Brussels’ main airport and on the metro system, which killed 32 people.
“Even though this is a person that’s already sentenced and is serving very long prison sentences in other countries, we will still charge him and we have an international obligation to do so,” Ms Devgun told AFP.
Krayem has been “temporarily handed over to Sweden to participate in the trial”, which is scheduled to begin on June 4, according to the Swedish Prosecution Authority.
“It is painful for my parents to be confronted with this event again, but we are grateful that the Swedish authorities want to give us justice,” Mr Jawdat al-Kasasbeh, the pilot’s brother, told broadcaster Sveriges Radio. AFP