Oussama Abdallah Kassir ( ar, أسامة عبدالله قصير; born 12 January 1966) is a Lebanese-born

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

Islamist. He is a citizen of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

who served a prison sentence in Sweden on a number of violence and drug related offenses, and was later convicted by an American court for conspiring to support terrorism.
mirror

Early life

Kassir was born in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon. He moved to Sweden in 1984 and was granted Swedish citizenship in 1989. He participated in the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

during the 1980s and was hurt in battle. His last address in Sweden is an apartment in

Bandhagen Bandhagen is a suburban district south of Stockholm with 6510 (2018) inhabitants. It is located in the Enskede-Årsta-Vantör borough neighboring Högdalen, Stureby and Örby. The metro station with the same name was opened in 1954. Progressive ...

in southern

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. In September 2002 Kassir told ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

'' that, though not technically a member of

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

, he was a "supporter" of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

: "I love Al-Qaeda ... I love Osama bin Laden."

Swedish criminal conviction

In Sweden he was convicted of possession of illegal firearms, assault and battery of a policeman, and a drug related offense. He spent ten months in prison for possession of illegal firearms. While serving his sentence at the

Österåker Prison The Österåker Prison ( sv, Anstalten Österåker, commonly known as ''Österåkersanstalten'') is a prison located in Österåker Municipality, thirty kilometers north of Stockholm, Sweden. It is a Class 2-security prison with a capacity for 146 ...

he became a friend of

Kérim Chatty Kerim Chatty (born 15 January 1973) is a Swedish man who was suspected of attempted hijacking of an aircraft in 2002. He was subsequently released from police custody and the preliminary inquiry regarding attempted hijacking was dropped. Chatty wa ...

, who was suspected of attempted hijacking of a

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

flight in

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

but cleared of all terrorism-related charges.

United States criminal trial

Kassir was arrested in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, while on his way to Beirut, on December 11, 2005, on a warrant filed by

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

federal prosecutors. He was charged with conspiring to support terrorism by traveling from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Bly, Oregon Bly is an unincorporated small town in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. By highway, it is about east of Klamath Falls. , the population was 207. Geography Bly is in southeastern Klamath County, slightly west of Lake County, along Ore ...

, in 1999 to help set up a jihad training camp. Kassir and another man,

Haroon Rashid Aswat Haroon Rashid Aswat (born in Britain) is a British citizen of South Asian origin with ancestral ethnic roots to Gujarat, born and raised in Yorkshire. American officials allege that he has ties to al Qaeda, and have sought his extradition ...

, were sent to the camp by

Abu Hamza al-Masri Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى كامل مصطفى; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri (; , – literally, father of Hamza, the Egyptian), or simply Abu Hamza, is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park M ...

, a radical London-based cleric. Kassir and Aswat lived for several weeks at a Central District mosque before traveling to Oregon where they met up with the camp founder

James Ujaama Earnest James Ujaama (born 1965 or 1996) is an American community activist and former terrorist suspect. A long-term resident of Seattle and well-known community activist, Ujaama was arrested under terrorism charges in July 2002, the first Ame ...

and several other persons. The complaint states that Kassir spent nearly two months in Bly, where he, according to unidentified witnesses, trained others to use firearms, set up perimeter patrols on the property and was "in possession of at least one compact disc about improving poisons." The complaint further alleges that Kassir had trained for jihad in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. On September 25, 2007 Kassir was extradited from Prague to the United States to face trial. On May 12, 2009 Kassir was found guilty by a federal

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

on all eleven charges brought against him. The jury deliberated for a mere five and a half hours.mirror
/ref> The

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...

was commented by terrorism expert

Magnus Ranstorp Per Magnus Ranstorp (born 13 March 1965 in Hästveda) is a Swedish scholar who has written about Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda and other militant Islamic movements. He is the Research Director of the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the ...

as showing differences in evidential requirements from EU courts and was also criticized by civil rights activists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kassir, Oussama 1966 births Living people People from Beirut Lebanese Islamists Swedish Islamists Islamic terrorism in Sweden Muslims with branch missing Lebanese emigrants to Sweden Lebanese people imprisoned abroad People extradited from the Czech Republic People extradited to the United States Prisoners and detainees of Sweden Inmates of ADX Florence