Swedish jihadi jailed for life over infamous murder of pilot
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A Swedish court has sentenced a man to life in prison for helping kill a Jordanian pilot in a notorious 2015 "Islamic State" killing. It is the first conviction over the murder, in which the victim was burned alive.
The Stockholm District Court on Thursday sentenced Swedish national Osama K. to life in prison for his role in the 2015 murder of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by the "Islamic State" (IS) militant group in Syria.
K. was found guilty of participating in the execution by helping to force the pilot into a metal cage ahead of one of the militant group's most infamous murders. The conviction is the first of anyone tried over the high-profile execution.
What did the Stockholm court say?
"The investigation has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and allowed himself to be filmed," Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said in a statement.
Though video evidence showed another man lighting the fire that killed the pilot, the judge said K.'s involvement was decisive: "Defendant's actions contributed so significantly to the death of the victim that he should be considered a perpetrator."
K., who was charged in May, is already serving sentences for his role in the 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels terror attacks. He was convicted of "serious war crimes and terrorist crimes" for helping facilitate the execution, which was widely condemned at the time for its brutality.
The pilot had been captured by IS fighters after his Royal Jordanian Air Force plane went down in Syria on December 24, 2014. He was burned alive in a cage, with the video of the killing released publicly on February 3, 2015.
Liljenberg Gullesjo said K. was responsible for "guarding the victim both before and during the execution and taking him to the cage where he was set alight while still alive."
Images of the death were disseminated online by the jihadi group.