Latest news with #JordanianPilot
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Sweden charges extremist over Jordanian pilot burned to death
Osama Krayem is already serving a 30-year sentence for involvement in the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris. (AFP pic) STOCKHOLM : Prosecutors have charged a Swedish extremist over the 2014 killing of a Jordanian pilot, who was burned to death in a cage in Syria after being captured by the Islamic State (IS) group. Osama Krayem, 32, was charged with '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 November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, was charged with 'serious war crimes and terrorist crimes'. According to prosecutors, who had announced 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 IS fighters 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 IS fighters, including Krayem, according to prosecutors. The pilot is then locked in a cage that is set on fire, leading to his death, 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,' 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. 'Obligation' to prosecute The defendant's lawyer, Petra Eklund, told AFP that her client admitted to being present at the scene but disputed the prosecution's version. 'He denies the acts for which he is prosecuted,' she said. 'He acknowledges having been present at that place during the event but claims not to have acted in the manner described by the prosecutors in the account of the facts.' Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined the IS group 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 November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed. 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,' 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,' Jawdat al-Kasasbeh, the pilot's brother, told broadcaster Sveriges Radio.
CBS News
6 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Sweden charges man over 2015 killing of Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by ISIS
A Swedish man was indicted Tuesday in connection with ISIS' killing of a Jordanian pilot whose plane went down in Syria on Christmas Eve 2014, prosecutors said. The 26-year-old Jordanian, 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, 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, killing him on camera in early 2015. The suspect was identified by Swedish prosecutors as Osama Krayem, 32, who is alleged to have traveled to Syria in September 2014 to fight for ISIS. The airman became the first known foreign military pilot to fall into the militants' hands after the U.S.-led international coalition began its aerial campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq in 2014. Jordan, a close U.S. ally, was a member of the coalition and the pilot's killing appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan to leave the alliance. Krayem was charged with "participating in the brutal execution of a pilot" near Raqqa, prosecutor Reena Devgun told a press conference. In this Jan. 30, 2015, file photo, workers raise a banner with a photo of Jordanian pilot Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, who was held captive by ISIS, outside a tent for supporters in Amman, Jordan. AP Photo/Nasser Nasser Krayem is set to go on trial June 4 in Stockholm. He was previously convicted in France and Brussels for fatal ISIS attacks in those countries. Video of the killing In a 20-minute video released in 2015, purportedly showing al-Kaseasbeh's killing, he displayed signs of having been beaten, including a black eye. 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, 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," 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. The footage was widely released as part of the militant group's propaganda. The killing sparked outrage and anti-ISIS demonstrations in Jordan, and King Abdullah II ordered two al Qaeda prisoners to be executed in response. 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, for charges including complicity to terrorist murder. French media reported that France agreed in March to turn Krayem over to Sweden for nine months, to assist with the Swedish probe and his expected trial. Sweden is then to return him to France so he can serve out his sentence, French media reported. 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, 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. "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," Jawdat al-Kasasbeh, the pilot's brother, told broadcaster Sveriges Radio. Life in Sweden Krayem grew up in Rosengard, a district notorious in Sweden for high crime and unemployment rates where more than 80% of the residents are first- or second-generation immigrants. "He was well-known to the local police for multiple criminal activities like thefts, for instance," Muhammad Khorshid, who ran a program in Rosengard to help immigrants integrate into Swedish society, told The Associated Press in 2016. He said Krayem "was the perfect target for radicalization — no job, no future, no money." Krayem had posted photos on social media from Syria, including one where he posed with an assault rifle in front of the black flag of ISIS. Lost territory At its peak, ISIS ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom in Iraq and Syria and was notorious for its brutality — much of it directed against fellow Sunni Muslims as well as against those the group deemed to be heretics. It beheaded civilians, slaughtered 1,700 captured Iraqi soldiers in a short period, and enslaved and raped thousands of women from the Yazidi community, one of Iraq's oldest religious minorities. In March 2019, the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces captured the the last sliver of land the extremists controlled in the eastern Syrian town of Baghouz. While ISIS has lost its hold on all of the territory it once controlled, sleeper cells still stage occasional attacks in Iraq and Syria and abroad. Arrest in Germany Also on Tuesday, the German federal prosecutor separately announced the arrest of an alleged member of the Syrian secret intelligence services under former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The suspect, who was only named as Fahad A. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on suspicion of acts of killing, torture and deprivation of liberty as crimes against humanity. He allegedly took part in more than 100 interrogations between late April 2011 and mid-April 2012. At least 70 prisoners died from the torture and prison conditions, the federal prosecutor's office said. contributed to this report.
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Swedish man charged over 2015 killing of Jordanian pilot in Syria
This article contains distressing descriptions of deathSwedish authorities have charged a convicted terrorist over the 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot who was burned to death in Krayem, 32 - a Swedish citizen - was on Tuesday charged with war and terrorism crimes relating to the death of Moaz al-Kasasbeh. Krayem is currently in prison after being convicted for his role in the 2015 and 2016 terror attacks in Paris and Brussels respectively. The BBC has contacted his lawyer for comment relating to the latest allegations. He has previously denied the charges, Swedish public broadcaster SVT trial is expected to begin on 4 June. The Swedish Prosecution Authority last week announced they planned to charge a man with the "execution" of Lt Kasasbeh, along with other suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) group. Jordan confirmed the death of Lt Kasasbeh in 2015, following the circulation of a gruesome video published online by IS that appeared to show the 26-year-old being burned alive in a was captured when his plane came down near the city of Raqqa during a mission against IS in December 2014. At the time of Lt Kasasbeh's death, Jordan - which was part of a US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria during the civil war - had been attempting to secure his release as part of a prisoner swap. Swedish prosecutors said in its statement last week the offences Krayem has now been charged with took place between 24 December 2014 and 3 February added an investigation had shown Krayem "armed and masked, together with others forced the pilot into a metal cage". "The cage was subsequently set on fire by one of the co-perpetrators, and the pilot died as a consequence of the fire."Krayem is originally from the Swedish city of Malmo and is thought to have travelled to Syria in September 2014 to fight for IS. In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the November 2015 Paris terror attacks - in which 130 people were killed - and for planning a separate attack on Amsterdam airport.A year later, he was also found guilty of terrorist murder for his role in the Brussels attacks that killed 32 has been temporarily transferred from France to Sweden in order to participate in this latest trial.
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Swedish man charged over 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State group
A Swedish man was indicted Tuesday in connection with the killing by the Islamic State group of a Jordanian pilot whose plane went down in Syria on Christmas Eve 2014, prosecutors said. The 26-year-old Jordanian, 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, 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, killing him on camera in early 2015. The suspect was identified by Swedish prosecutors as Osama Krayem, 32, who is alleged to have traveled to Syria in September 2014 to fight for IS. The airman became the first known foreign military pilot to fall into the militants' hands after the U.S.-led international coalition began its aerial campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq in 2014. Jordan, a close U.S. ally, was a member of the coalition and the pilot's killing appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan to leave the alliance. Krayem is set to go on trial June 4 in Stockholm. He was previously convicted in France and Brussels for fatal Islamic State attacks in those countries. Video of the killing In a 20-minute video released in 2015, purportedly showing al-Kaseasbeh's killing, he displayed signs of having been beaten, including a black eye. Toward the end of the clip, he is shown wearing an orange jumpsuit. He stands in an outdoor cage as a masked militant ignites a line of fuel leading to it. The footage was widely released as part of the militant group's propaganda. The killing sparked outrage and anti-IS demonstrations in Jordan, and King Abdullah II ordered two al-Qaida prisoners to be executed in response. In 2022, Krayem was among 20 men convicted by a special terrorism court in Paris for involvement in a wave of Islamic State 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, for charges including complicity to terrorist murder. French media reported that France agreed in March to turn Krayem over to Sweden for nine months, to assist with the Swedish probe and his expected trial. Sweden is then to return him to France so he can serve out his sentence, French media reported. 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, 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 Islamic State network. Life in Sweden Krayem grew up in Rosengard, a district notorious in Sweden for high crime and unemployment rates where more than 80 percent of the residents are first- or second-generation immigrants. 'He was well-known to the local police for multiple criminal activities like thefts, for instance,' Muhammad Khorshid, who ran a program in Rosengard to help immigrants integrate into Swedish society, told The Associated Press in 2016. He said Krayem 'was the perfect target for radicalization — no job, no future, no money.' Krayem had posted photos on social media from Syria, including one where he posed with an assault rifle in front of the black flag of the Islamic State group. Lost territory At its peak, IS ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom in Iraq and Syria and was notorious for its brutality — much of it directed against fellow Sunni Muslims as well as against those the group deemed to be heretics. It beheaded civilians, slaughtered 1,700 captured Iraqi soldiers in a short period, and enslaved and raped thousands of women from the Yazidi community, one of Iraq's oldest religious minorities. In March 2019, the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces captured the the last sliver of land the extremists controlled in the eastern Syrian town of Baghouz. While IS has lost its hold on all of the territory it once controlled, sleeper cells still stage occasional attacks in Iraq and Syria and abroad. Arrest in Germany Also on Tuesday, the German federal prosecutor separately announced the arrest of an alleged member of the Syrian secret intelligence services under former Syrian President Bashar Assad. The suspect, who was only named as Fahad A. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on suspicion of acts of killing, torture, and deprivation of liberty as crimes against humanity. He allegedly took part in more than 100 interrogations between late April 2011 and mid-April 2012. At least 70 prisoners died from the torture and prison conditions, the federal prosecutor's office said. __ John Leicester in Paris, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Swedish man charged over 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State group
A Swedish man was indicted Tuesday in connection with the killing by the Islamic State group of a Jordanian pilot whose plane went down in Syria on Christmas Eve 2014, prosecutors said. The 26-year-old Jordanian , 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, 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, killing him on camera in early 2015.
