Swedish prosecutors have formally charged Osama K., a Swedish citizen, for his alleged involvement in the 2014 execution of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria. The pilot was burned alive in a metal cage, a brutal killing that was widely disseminated through IS propaganda.
Osama K., originally from Malmö, Sweden, is accused of war crimes and terrorist offenses related to forcibly placing the pilot into the cage prior to the execution. Authorities have not determined the exact date of the incident but have identified the location within Syria where it occurred.
"The investigation shows that the accused, armed and masked, forced the pilot into the metal cage, which was then set on fire by co-perpetrators, leading to the pilot's death," said prosecutor Henrik Olin. He added that the murder represented a significant escalation in IS's violent propaganda tactics.
Osama K.'s defense attorney, Petra Eklund, confirmed that her client admits to being present but denies the specific allegations outlined by prosecutors. "He acknowledges being at the scene but disputes acting as described," she stated.
The Jordanian pilot, a Royal Jordanian Air Force member, was captured after his jet was downed near Raqqa—the IS self-declared capital—on December 24, 2014. The horrific killing was captured in a video released by IS.
Osama K. joined ISIS in 2014 and later returned to Europe, where he was previously convicted for his involvement in major terrorist attacks. In 2022, he received a 30-year prison sentence in France for complicity in the November 2015 Paris attacks that resulted in 130 deaths. In 2023, Belgium sentenced him to life imprisonment for his role in the 2016 Brussels attacks that killed 32 people.
Sweden obtained custody of Osama K. on a temporary basis from France in March 2025 to facilitate investigation and trial. The proceedings are scheduled to begin on June 4 at the Stockholm District Court. After the trial, he will be returned to France to continue serving his sentence.
