Volkswacht Bodensee - Sweden tries sole surviving jihadist over Jordan pilot burnt to death

The case is considered unique as the other jihadists involved in the brutal killing, which sparked international outrage at the time, are presumed dead, Swedish prosecutor Henrik Olin told AFP.

Osama Krayem, a 32-year-old Swede, is already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks.

He now faces charges of "serious war crimes and terrorist crimes" for the killing of the Jordanian pilot, with his trial due to open at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) at Stockholm's district court.

On December 24, 2014, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria.

The pilot was captured the same day by fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group near the central city of Raqqa and killed sometime before February 3, 2015, when a video of the killing was published, according to the prosecution.

His death shocked Jordan, which was participating in the US-led coalition's strikes against IS positions in Syria.

Bringing the case to trial was the result of extensive cooperation with officials in Belgium, France and the United States, prosecutor Olin said last week.

The case was proof that "justice always catches up" with those responsible, he told reporters.

The pilot's 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.

Prosecutors have been unable to determine the exact date of the murder but the investigation has identified the location where it took place.

- Eyebrow scar -

It was thanks to a scar on the suspect's eyebrow, visible in the video and spotted by Belgian police, that Krayem was identified and the investigation was opened, said another prosecutor on the case, Reena Devgun.

Other evidence includes conversations on social media, including one where Krayem asks a person if he has seen a new video "where a man gets fried", according to the investigation, a copy of which has been viewed by AFP.

"I'm in the video," Krayem said, pointing out the moment when the camera zooms in on his face.

The other person replies: "Hahaha, yes, I saw the eyebrow."

The defendant's lawyer, Petra Eklund, told AFP 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," she added.

Krayem, who is from Malmo in southern Sweden, joined the IS group in Syria in 2014 before returning to Europe in September 2015.

He was arrested in Belgium in April 2016.

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 March 2016 bombings at Brussels' main airport and on the metro system, which killed 32 people.

Krayem has been temporarily handed over to Sweden to participate in the Stockholm trial, which is scheduled to last until June 26.

He is expected to be sent back to France to continue serving his sentence there at the end of the Swedish trial.

F.Stadler--VB