Latest news with #ISIS
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Swedish Man Convicted for Role in 2015 Killing of Jordanian Pilot by ISIS
A Swedish man was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for his role in the 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot by ISIS, Swedish media reported. 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, 26, was taken captive after his F-16 fighter jet crashed near the extremists' de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. He was forced into a cage that was set on fire in early 2015. The suspect, identified by Swedish prosecutors as Osama Krayem, 32, is alleged to have traveled to Syria in September 2014 to fight for ISIS. Krayem, armed and masked, was among those who forced al-Kaseasbeh into the cage and to his death, prosecutors say. He can still file an appeal. Krayem was indicted by Swedish prosecutors in May on suspicion of committing serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria. He was previously convicted in France and Brussels for fatal ISIS attacks in those countries. Al-Kaseasbeh was the first known foreign military pilot to fall into the militants' hands after the US-led international coalition began its aerial campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq in 2014. Attorney Mikael Westerlund, who represented the pilot's family, said his clients were happy with Thursday's verdict after they had lost hope there would be justice for al-Kaseasbeh, TT reported. In 2022, Krayem was among 20 men convicted by a special terrorism court in Paris for involvement in a wave of ISIS attacks in the French capital in 2015, targeting the Bataclan theater, Paris cafés and the national stadium. The assaults killed 130 people and injured hundreds, some permanently maimed. Krayem was sentenced to 30 years in prison, on charges including complicity to terrorist murder. French media reported that France agreed in March to turn Krayem over to Sweden for the investigation and trial. In 2023, a Belgian court sentenced Krayem, among others, to life in prison on charges of terrorist murder in connection with 2016 suicide bombings that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds at Brussels airport and a busy subway station in the country's deadliest peacetime attack. Krayem was aboard the commuter train that was hit, but did not detonate the explosives he was carrying. Both the Paris and Brussels attacks were linked to the same ISIS network.
Shafaq News
12 hours ago
- Shafaq News
Sweden jails ISIS member for life over burning of Jordanian pilot
Shafaq News – Stockholm On Thursday, a Swedish court sentenced ISIS member Osama Krayem to life in prison for his role in the killing of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, who was burned alive by the extremist group in Syria in 2015. Al-Kasasbeh was captured by ISIS on December 24, 2014, after a Jordanian F-16 crashed near Raqqa during a mission as part of the US-led Coalition campaign against the group. In a statement by the Stockholm District Court, Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo stated that the defendant was present at the site of the execution, wearing military clothing and armed, adding that he consented to being filmed and played a decisive role in the events that led to the victim's death. This marks the first time a court has issued a verdict in connection with al-Kasasbeh's murder in February 2015, when ISIS released a propaganda video showing the Jordanian pilot locked in a cage and set on fire. The court concluded that Krayem, 32, helped guard al-Kasasbeh before and during the execution, transported him to the cage, and remained armed while filming took place. Although another ISIS militant is believed to have lit the fire, the court found his role essential and grounds for conviction. According to DW, Krayem traveled to Syria in September 2014 to join ISIS and later took part in the November 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and the March 2016 Brussels bombings that left 32 dead. Krayem was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted on charges ranging from complicity to murder. French media reported that France agreed last March to extradite Krayem to Sweden for investigation and trial.
New York Times
14 hours ago
- New York Times
ISIS Militant Sentenced to Life for Role in Burning Pilot Alive
A former Islamic State fighter who stood guard while a Jordanian pilot was burned alive a decade ago was sentenced to life in prison in a Swedish court on Thursday after being convicted of committing a war crime. A panel of judges in the Stockholm District Court found Osama Krayem, a 32-year-old Swedish citizen, guilty of a 'grave war crime' and a terrorist offense. Though Mr. Krayem denied any wrongdoing, video evidence showed him participating in the gruesome murder of the pilot, whose immolation in 2015 caused a wave of outrage over the Islamic State's treatment of prisoners. Mr. Krayem was one of thousands of young men who fought for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, when the group controlled large swaths of eastern Syria and northern Iraq. He was also among a group of fighters who later fanned out over Europe, carrying out deadly terrorist attacks in France and Belgium, according to investigators in those countries. The Swedish court found that Mr. Krayem was one of several armed and uniformed militants in Syria who forced the captured pilot, First Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh, into a metal cage in 2015 and burned him alive, videotaping the atrocity and posting it online. Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh had been shot down over Syria while carrying out airstrikes for a coalition of Arab nations. Mr. Krayem may not have lit the fire but he contributed 'so actively' to the murder that he was tried as a perpetrator, the presiding judge, Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo, said in a statement. 'The evidence has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and let himself be filmed,' the judge said. Besides finding Mr. Krayem guilty of a war crime, the court determined that the filming of the pilot's murder and the distribution of the video were an act of terror, intended to intimidate anyone who did not share the Islamic State's ideology, and to deter other countries from acting against the group. Mr. Krayem, also known as Naim al Hamed, had already been linked to terror attacks that shook Western Europe. In 2022, he was among 20 men convicted for their roles in a spree of bombings and shootings in Paris in 2015 that left 130 people dead. He was later found guilty, along with eight others, of orchestrating a series of deadly bombings in Belgium in 2016. French prosecutors had extradited Mr. Krayem to Sweden for his trial in Stockholm. He will be returned to France before Dec. 27 to continue serving his sentence there.
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Telegraph
Islamic State terrorist jailed for life after pilot burned to death
An Islamic State [IS] terrorist has been handed a life sentence for his role in burning a Jordanian pilot to death inside a cage in Syria. Osama Krayem, a Swedish citizen, was convicted by a court in Stockholm of locking fighter pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh inside a cage before it was doused in fuel and set alight in 2015. Mr al-Kasasbeh's death was filmed and posted online by the Islamic State, which revelled in circulating footage of its most repulsive and sadistic acts at the height of its power in Iraq and Syria. Krayem, who has already received a life sentence for his roles in the Paris and Brussels attacks of 2015 and 2016, denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty by the Stockholm district court of war crimes. The Malmo-born terrorist did admit that he was at the location where Mr al-Kasasbeh, who was aged 26 when his F-16 fighter jet was shot down in Syria, was murdered. Krayem was one of several IS terrorists who carried out the murder of Mr al-Kasasbeh, but Swedish officials say that all of the other perpetrators are most likely dead. 'The District Court has found that the defendant, through his actions, contributed so actively to the death of the pilot that he should be considered a perpetrator,' presiding Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said during the trial, according to Reuters news agency. Krayem, 32, was born in Malmo and radicalised online, leaving Sweden at some point in 2014 to join the Islamic State group, according to Swedish reports. During his time in Syria, he posted a video to his social media of a Palestinian boy from Jerusalem being murdered, which was 'liked' by several friends and relatives back in Malmo. Using a fake passport, Krayem returned to Europe by posing as a migrant and crossing back into Sweden via Turkey and Greece. He then played a significant role in planning both the November 2015 Paris attacks and the March 2016 Brussels airport attacks, with his DNA found in apartments used by the other plotters. A Belgian-led police investigation led to Krayem's arrest and extradition to France, where he was convicted in 2022 and jailed for 30 years over his role in the Paris massacres. In July 2023, he was also found guilty of participating in the Brussels attacks and was handed a life sentence.
Rudaw Net
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Rojava donates $1 million to aid campaign for Syrian Druze
Also in Syria Iraq repatriates over 230 families from Syria ISIS detention camp Kurdish-led forces dismantle suspected ISIS cell in al-Hol Rojava Kurds fear Kurdish forces integration with Syria state amid surge in minority violence Unidentified gunmen target SDF in Deir ez-Zor A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) has donated one million US dollars to an ongoing aid campaign for the Druze community in southern Syria, following recent mass killings targeting the religious minority, a Kurdish humanitarian organization announced on Thursday. 'We launched a campaign on July 24. The people of northeast Syria are donating money to the campaign. We have set up collection boxes and bank accounts… The campaign will run for ten days,' Dilgash Issa, co-chair of the Rojava-based Kurdish Red Crescent, told Rudaw English. He added that the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), the official name of the Kurdish-led enclave, contributed to the campaign with a donation of one million dollars. 'They handed over one million dollars to us to help deliver aid to Suwayda,' he noted, adding that other organisations and entities have also donated thousands of dollars. The Kurdish Red Crescent has not been able to access the Druze-majority city of Suwayda, where recent clashes between Druze militants and Sunni tribal fighters have left over 1,300 people dead, according to the latest toll published by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Issa said they have requested permission from the Damascus government to enter Suwayda. The province is primarily controlled by Druze forces, while state-affiliated troops have been deployed at its entrances to prevent further clashes between Druze and Sunni fighters. Although there have been reports of an embargo on Suwayda, the interim government has denied these claims. State-affiliated forces have been accused of siding with the Sunni fighters from the Bedouin tribes during the clashes. The Druze community enjoy strong relations with Syria's Kurds, and their most powerful spiritual leader has called for the establishment of a route to connect Suwayda to Rojava. The DAANES officials have expressed readiness to provide full support for the Druze, especially humanitarian. Mazloum Abdi, chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has confirmed that they had received appeals from the Druze in Suwayda to "secure safe passages for civilians and to stop the attacks targeting them." Issa said the Kurdish Red Crescent plans to deliver medicine, food, and essential supplies for women and children to Suwayda once they receive permission to enter the province. 'If we cannot get permission to enter, we will try to send cash,' he stated, noting that sending aid is better than cash as the lack of essentials in the province will render cash useless.
