A Swedish jihadist who is suspected of carrying out one of Islamic State’s most infamous executions may finally face justice more than ten years on.
Prosecutors have asked for convicted terrorist Osama Krayem to be remanded in detention on suspicion of war and terrorism crimes over the 2014 killing of a Jordanian air force pilot in Syria.
Mouath al-Kasaesbeh was locked in a cage and burned alive by depraved militants after being captured when his plane was shot down on December 24, 2014, with footage of the horrific execution being broadcast to the world by the terror group.
No individuals have so far stood trial for the killing of the 26-year-old, Swedish prosecutors said.
Now Krayem, who has previously been convicted for involvement in attacks in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels in 2016, could be the first person to be convicted in connection with the heinous act.
The authority said the killing was considered “one of the most brutal murders committed by IS during the war in Syria,’ with the pilot ‘incapacitated and subjected to an extremely cruel act’.
Prosecutors said they will request that 32-year-old Krayem, who is currently held in France, be extradited if the case goes to trial in Sweden.
Prosecutors said Krayem, alongside other IS members, forced the pilot into the cage. The killing of the pilot violates the laws of war, and the killing and video constitute terrorist activities, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.
Prosecutors have asked for convicted terrorist Osama Krayem (pictured) to be remanded in detention on suspicion of war and terrorism crimes
Mouath al-Kasaesbeh was locked in a cage and burned alive by depraved militants
No individuals have so far stood trial for the killing of the 26-year-old (pictured), Swedish prosecutors said
Under Swedish legislation, courts can try people for crimes against international law committed abroad.
The IS militant group once imposed a reign of terror over millions of people in Syria and Iraq, controlling swathes of the countries between 2014 and 2017 before it was defeated in its last bastions in 2019.
It is responsible for some of Europe’s worst terror atrocities in recent years.
Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined IS in Syria in 2014 before returning to Europe.
In June 2022, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in France for assisting in the planning of 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.
Prior to his arrest on April 8, 2016, he was one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives, and considered to be a hardened ISIS operative.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority said in it would not comment further on the latest case until it had reached a decision on whether to charge Krayem.
Mouath al-Kasaesbeh, who was captured by ISIS when his plane was shot down in 2014
The pilot’s wife Anwar Tarawneh, holds a photo of him before his grotesque execution was confirmed
A hearing to decide whether he will be remanded in detention in his absence was scheduled for Tuesday, the Stockholm district court said.
He is not the first suspect to have been connected to the execution of al-Kasaesbeh, with ISIS commander Saddam al-Jamal previously named as a mastermind behind the brutal killing.
Al-Jamal is said to have ordered the execution of children, sometimes in front of their parents.
In 2014, Iraqi officials claimed that al-Jamal had murdered an entire family after the parents prevented the daughter from marrying him.
Gruesome images released on social media show him gleefully posing with a collection of charred severed heads.
He was one of four leaders of ISIS captured by Iraqi security forces after they were lured from Syria to Iraq with fake Telegram messages.
