By Samah Abdel Fattah | 2025-06-05

Court rulings issued by French, Belgian and Swedish courts against a Swedish "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) element make it clear that for the group's members, there is no escaping justice and accountability.

Osama Krayem, 32, who went on trial in Stockholm June 4 for his role in the 2014 capture and killing of a Jordanian pilot burned alive in Syria, is serving long prison sentences over his role in the 2015 and 2016 Paris and Brussels attacks.

He now faces charges of "serious war crimes and terrorist crimes," AFP reported.

On December 24, 2014, a Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed near the ISIS stronghold of al-Raqa in Syria.

ISIS fighters captured the pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, and burned him alive in a cage sometime before February 3, 2015, when a 22-minute propaganda video of the killing was published -- one of the first such videos released by ISIS.

The gruesome video shows al-Kasasbeh walking past several masked ISIS fighters -- including Krayem, according to prosecutors -- and being locked in the cage, praying, as he is set on fire.

"Osama Krayem, in uniform and armed, guarded and led the victim Moaz al-Kasasbeh to a metal cage, where the latter was then locked up," prosecutor Reena Devgun told the court June 4.

"One of the co-perpetrators then set fire to Moaz al-Kasasbeh, who had no possibility to defend himself or call for help," Devgun said.

Devgun previously revealed it was a scar on Krayem's eyebrow, visible in the video and spotted by Belgian police, that led to his identification.

Krayem also identified himself on the video in conversations on social media.

Deterrent to recruitment

The court rulings serve as "a deterrent to any future recruitment operations carried out by terrorist groups," Syrian lawyer Bashir al-Bassam told Al-Fassel.

"Prosecution and accountability are absolutely inescapable, even if the timeframe is relatively long."

"During the period when ISIS controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, it committed hundreds of crimes against civilians and those who opposed it," Syrian journalist Muhammad al-Abdullah told Al-Fassel.

But due to the megalomania that gripped its leaders, "most of these crimes were publicized in photos and video clips via official social media accounts, which made it easier for journalists and activists to document these crimes," he said.

"This will facilitate the process of tracking and prosecuting criminals."