Government is ‘picking and choosing' who it helps
But the mentor only had one meeting with him and his case was closed. A review into Prevent this week found it could have missed chances to turn Harbi Ali away from terrorism.
We spoke to Sir David Amess's daughter, Katie Amess.
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Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
Islamic State terrorist jailed for life after pilot burned to death
An Islamic State [IS] terrorist has been handed a life sentence for his role in burning a Jordanian pilot to death inside a cage in Syria. Osama Krayem, a Swedish citizen, was convicted by a court in Stockholm of locking fighter pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh inside a cage before it was doused in fuel and set alight in 2015. Mr al-Kasasbeh's death was filmed and posted online by the Islamic State, which revelled in circulating footage of its most repulsive and sadistic acts at the height of its power in Iraq and Syria. Krayem, who has already received a life sentence for his roles in the Paris and Brussels attacks of 2015 and 2016, denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty by the Stockholm district court of war crimes. The Malmo-born terrorist did admit that he was at the location where Mr al-Kasasbeh, who was aged 26 when his F-16 fighter jet was shot down in Syria, was murdered. Krayem was one of several IS terrorists who carried out the murder of Mr al-Kasasbeh, but Swedish officials say that all of the other perpetrators are most likely dead. 'The District Court has found that the defendant, through his actions, contributed so actively to the death of the pilot that he should be considered a perpetrator,' presiding Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said during the trial, according to Reuters news agency. Krayem, 32, was born in Malmo and radicalised online, leaving Sweden at some point in 2014 to join the Islamic State group, according to Swedish reports. During his time in Syria, he posted a video to his social media of a Palestinian boy from Jerusalem being murdered, which was 'liked' by several friends and relatives back in Malmo. Using a fake passport, Krayem returned to Europe by posing as a migrant and crossing back into Sweden via Turkey and Greece. He then played a significant role in planning both the November 2015 Paris attacks and the March 2016 Brussels airport attacks, with his DNA found in apartments used by the other plotters. A Belgian-led police investigation led to Krayem's arrest and extradition to France, where he was convicted in 2022 and jailed for 30 years over his role in the Paris massacres. In July 2023, he was also found guilty of participating in the Brussels attacks and was handed a life sentence.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Swedish man convicted for his role in 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State group
A Swedish man was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for his role in the 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State militant group, Swedish media reported. The 26-year-old Jordanian, 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, was taken captive after his F-16 fighter jet crashed near the extremists' de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. He was forced into a cage that was set on fire in early 2015. The suspect, identified by Swedish prosecutors as Osama Krayem, 32, is alleged to have traveled to Syria in September 2014 to fight for IS. Swedish prosecutors say Krayem, armed and masked, was among those who forced al-Kaseasbeh into the cage. The pilot died in the fire. Krayem was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, Swedish news agency TT reported. He was indicted by Swedish prosecutors in May on suspicion of committing serious war crimes and terrorist crimes in Syria. He was previously convicted in France and Brussels for fatal Islamic State attacks in those countries. The airman became the first known foreign military pilot to fall into the militants' hands after the U.S.-led international coalition began its aerial campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq in 2014. Jordan, a close U.S. ally, was a member of the coalition and the pilot's killing appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan to leave the alliance. In a 20-minute video released in 2015, purportedly showing al-Kaseasbeh's killing, he displayed signs of having been beaten, including a black eye. He is shown wearing an orange jumpsuit and standing in an outdoor cage as a masked militant ignites a line of fuel leading to it. The footage, widely released as part of the militant group's propaganda, sparked outrage and anti-IS demonstrations in Jordan. In 2022, Krayem was among 20 men convicted by a special terrorism court in Paris for involvement in a wave of Islamic State attacks in the French capital in 2015, targeting the Bataclan theater, Paris cafés and the national stadium. The assaults killed 130 people and injured hundreds, some permanently maimed. Krayem was sentenced to 30 years in prison, for charges including complicity to terrorist murder. French media reported that France agreed in March to turn Krayem over to Sweden for the investigation and trial. In 2023, a Belgian court sentenced Krayem, among others, to life in prison on charges of terrorist murder in connection with 2016 suicide bombings that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds at Brussels airport and a busy subway station in the country's deadliest peacetime attack. Krayem was aboard the commuter train that was hit, but did not detonate the explosives he was carrying. Both the Paris and Brussels attacks were linked to the same Islamic State network.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Islamic State and al-Qaida threat is intense in Africa, with growing risks in Syria, UN experts say
The threat from Islamic State and al-Qaida extremists and their affiliates is most intense in parts of Africa, and risks are growing in Syria, which both groups view as a 'a strategic base for external operations,' U.N. experts said in a new report. Their report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Wednesday said West Africa 's al-Qaida-linked Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin group, known as JNIM, and East Africa 's al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab have continued to increase the territory under their control. The experts monitoring sanctions against the two groups said 'the organization's pivot towards parts of Africa continued" partly because of Islamic State losses in the Middle East due to counterterrorism pressures. There are also 'increasing concerns about foreign terrorist fighters returning to Central Asia and Afghanistan, aiming to undermine regional security,' they said. The Islamic State also continues to represent 'the most significant threat' to Europe and the Americas, the experts said, often by individuals radicalized via social media and encrypted messaging platforms by its Afghanistan-based Khorasan group. In the United States, the experts said several alleged terrorist attack plots were 'largely motivated by the Gaza and Israel conflict,' or by individuals radicalized by IS, also known as ISIL. They pointed to an American who pledged support to IS and drove into a crowd in New Orleans on Jan. 1, killing 14 people in the deadliest attack by al-Qaida or the Islamic State in the U.S. since 2016. In addition, they said, 'Authorities disrupted attacks, including an ISIL-inspired plot to conduct a mass shooting at a military base in Michigan,' and the IS Khorasan affiliate issued warnings of plots targeting Americans. In Africa's Sahel region, the experts said, JNIM expanded its area of operations, operating 'with relative freedom' in northern Mali and most of Burkina Faso. There was also a resurgence of activity by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, 'particularly along the Niger and Nigeria border, where the group was seeking to entrench itself.' 'JNIM reached a new level of operational capability to conduct complex attacks with drones, improvised explosive devices and large numbers of fighters against well-defended barracks,' the experts said. In East Africa, they said, 'al-Shabab maintained its resilience, intensifying operations in southern and central Somalia' and continuing its ties with Yemen's Houthi rebels. The two groups have reportedly exchanged weapons and the Houthis have trained al-Shabab fighters, they said. Syria, the experts said, remains 'in a volatile and precarious phase,' six months after the ouster of President Bashar Assad, with unnamed countries warning of growing risks posed by both IS and al-Qaida. 'Member states estimated that more than 5,000 foreign terrorist fighters were involved in the military operation in which Damascus was taken on Dec. 8,' the experts' 27-page report said. Syria's new interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa led the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, once an al-Qaida affiliate that later split from it. He has promised that the country will transition to a system that includes Syria's mosaic of religious and ethnic groups under fair elections, but skeptics question whether that will actually happen. The experts expressed concern at the Syrian military's announcement of several senior appointments including 'prominent Syrian armed faction leaders' and six positions for foreigners — three with the rank of brigadier general and three with the rank of colonel. 'The ideological affiliation of many of these individuals was unknown, although several were likely to hold violent extremist views and external ambitions," the report said. As for financing, the experts said the HTS takeover in Syria was considered to pose financial problems for the Islamic State and likely to lead to a decline in its revenues. Salaries for Islamic State fighters were reduced to $50-$70 per month and $35 per family, 'lower than ever, and not paid regularly, suggesting financial difficulties,' said the experts, who did not give previous salaries or family payments. They said both al-Qaida and the Islamic State vary methods to obtain money according to locations and their ability to exploit resources, tax local communities, kidnap for ransom and exploit businesses. While the extremist groups predominantly move money through cash transfers and informal money transfer systems known as hawalas, the experts said the Islamic State has increasingly used female couriers and hawala systems where data is stored in the cloud to avoid detection, and 'safe drop boxes' where money is deposited at exchange offices and can only be retrieved with a password or code.
