A slight headshake and a slight twitch of the shoulders – but not a word.
Osama Krayem chooses not to say anything at all when questioned by the prosecution. Not about what he is charged with, not about his time in Syria, and not about whether he is still a practicing Muslim.
Don't you even want to look at me when I ask questions? wonders prosecutor Henrik Olin.
Denies the crime
Instead, the prosecutors play back recorded interrogations that Swedish authorities held with Krayem in France and Belgium, where he was more talkative.
The 32-year-old from Malmö denies the allegations – grave war crime and terrorist crime.
The crime in question is the IS execution of Jordanian fighter pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, who crashed his F16 plane in Syria on Christmas Eve 2014. He was captured and executed by being burned to death in a metal cage in the IS stronghold al-Raqqa. The execution was filmed and the film was then widely distributed in IS propaganda.
In court through his defense attorney and in previous interrogations, Krayem has admitted that he was present at the execution and witnessed it. But he denies that he participated.
He is not supposed to have been on guard duty and he is not supposed to have been the one to escort the captive to the cage where he was burned to death, as the prosecutors claim. What he is charged with "is too serious", he says in a recorded interrogation that the prosecutors play back. He has rather acted as a kind of extra, he claims.
”Did not know how”
They gave us clothes and weapons. I did not know what would happen, he says in one of the recorded interrogations.
In the recording, Krayem claims that he was called to the location, but that he did not understand the purpose when he received the order.
I understood when I saw the cameras, but I did not know how he would die. No one told me anything. I was there for 20 minutes.
Why he was called to the execution specifically, he cannot answer. He says he does not know who ordered him there, other than that he followed a friend. He does not want to point out anyone else of the masked people in the film either.
He claims that he was afraid during the execution.
I was terrified, he says in the recording.
The trial is now in its second week. It is expected to continue until June 26.
Björn Berglund/TT
Facts: Osama Krayem
TT
Islamist and convicted IS terrorist. Born and raised in Rosengård in Malmö. Was previously unconvicted, but had according to the police ties to criminal circles.
Is said to have radicalized in a basement mosque and traveled to Syria in the fall of 2014 at the age of 22, together with other Swedes, to join IS. Is said to have been handpicked for IS elite unit Liwa al-Sadiq.
Is on trial in Stockholm District Court for grave war crime and terrorist crime for participating in the execution of a Jordanian fighter pilot who was burned to death in a cage in Syria around the turn of 2014-15.
Is serving a 30-year prison sentence for assisting in the terror attacks in Paris 2015. Is also convicted to life imprisonment for his involvement in the bombings in Brussels 2016.
Was extradited to Sweden in March and will be returned to France when the Swedish judicial process is completed.
