STOCKHOLM — Swedish prosecutors have formally charged a 32-year-old man with war crimes and terrorist offenses for his alleged involvement in one of the Islamic State group’s most barbaric acts: the 2014 burning alive of a captured Jordanian pilot in Syria.
The suspect, Osama K., a Swedish citizen originally from Malmö, is accused of participating in the public execution of Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, who was captured after his jet crashed near Raqqa, then the de facto capital of the ISIS “caliphate.” The brutal killing was filmed and widely disseminated as violent propaganda, shocking global audiences and marking a chilling escalation in IS’s media strategy.
According to prosecutors, Osama K. was masked and armed as he and other IS fighters forced the pilot into a metal cage. One of the men then set the cage ablaze, burning the pilot alive. Prosecutor Henrik Olin described the incident as a “bestial murder” and highlighted its significance in Islamic State’s broader campaign of terror. “This was staged in a carefully produced video that was broadcast around the world,” he said.
The indictment, announced Tuesday, follows a long-running investigation that traced K.’s movements and identified his role in the execution. Prosecutors confirmed the location of the murder but have been unable to determine the exact date of the killing.
K. denies active participation, though he admits being at the scene. His attorney, Petra Eklund, told AFP that her client “acknowledges having been present” but disputes the claims of direct involvement. “He claims not to have acted in the manner described by the prosecutors in the account of the facts,” she said.
Captured in connection with later ISIS attacks in Europe, Osama K. was previously sentenced to 30 years in France for complicity in the 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead. In 2023, he also received a life sentence in Belgium for his role in the 2016 Brussels bombings, which killed 32 people.
French authorities agreed to temporarily transfer K. to Sweden in March for a nine-month period to allow the war crimes case to proceed. He will be returned to France upon conclusion of the trial to continue serving his sentence.
The Stockholm District Court has set proceedings to begin June 4, marking a rare attempt to bring justice for one of ISIS’s most high-profile war crimes.
