STOCKHOLM: Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem has appealed the life sentence he received in July for the 2015 murder of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the Islamic State group.
The Stockholm district court became the first judicial body to try an individual for this internationally condemned killing.
Krayem’s lawyer filed the appeal on Thursday to the Svea court of appeal, requesting full acquittal based on what she called “an erroneous judgement about Osama Krayem’s intent.”
Should it not grant a full acquittal, “Osama Krayem requests that the appeals court impose a more lenient sentence,“ defence lawyer Petra Eklund stated in the court filing.
The district court had convicted the 33-year-old Krayem of “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes” for his active participation in the pilot’s execution.
A Royal Jordanian Air Force aircraft crashed in Syria on December 24, 2014, leading to the capture of pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh by IS fighters near Raqqa.
The pilot was burned alive in a cage before February 3, 2015, when the Islamic State group released a professionally produced video of the horrific killing.
The Stockholm court determined that Krayem’s involvement included “guarding the victim both before and during the execution and taking him to the cage where he was set alight while still alive.”
Krayem’s defence maintained during trial that he spent only 15 to 20 minutes at the scene and was unaware of the planned execution until he noticed cameras.
The Malmo native remained silent throughout the three-week June trial, though investigators presented recorded interrogation segments as evidence.
Krayem already faces a 30-year prison sentence in France for assisting the November 2015 Paris attacks and life imprisonment in Belgium for the 2016 Brussels airport and metro attacks.
France transferred him to Sweden for nine months specifically to enable the investigation and trial proceedings. – AFP
