Oussama Kassir

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Oussama Abdallah Kassir (born January 12, 1966) is a Lebanese-born Swedish militant Islamist.

Kassir was born in Beirut in Lebanon and came to Sweden in 1984. He was granted citizenship in 1989. He participated in the Lebanese Civil War during the 1970s/1980s and was hurt in battle. His last address in Sweden is an apartment in Bandhagen in southern Stockholm.[1] He has been convicted in Sweden for possessing illegal firearms, assault on a policeman and drugs crime. He spent ten years in prison for the possessing illegal firearms. (This does not comply with the Wiki article on possession of illegal firearms according to Swedish law, according to which four years is the maximum sentence.) While serving his sentence at the Österåker Prison he became a friend of Kérim Chatty, the suspected hijacker of a Ryanair flight in Västerås, whom he converted to Islam. In 2003 he was indicted for suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, but he was later acquited[2].

In September 2002 Kassir told The Seattle Times that he was a "supporter" of Osama bin Laden: "I love al-Qaida ... I love Osama bin Laden."[3]

Kassir was arrested in Prague, Czech Republic, while on his way to Beirut, Lebanon, on December 11, 2005, on a warrant filed by United States federal prosecutors.[3] He was charged with conspiring to support terrorism by traveling from London to Bly, Oregon, in 1999 to help set up a jihad training camp.[3] Kassir and another man, Haroon Rashid Aswat, were sent to the camp by Abu Hamza al-Masri, 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 and several other persons.[3] 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."[3] The complaint further alleges that Kassir had trained for jihad in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Lebanon.[3] As of December 2006, Kassir is still in custody in Prague.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Svensk man sitter häktad i Prag för terrorbrott (Swedish). Efterlyst (2006-12-13). Retrieved on December 28, 2006.
  2. ^ Nilsson, Torbjörn. "Svensk kopplas till terrorgripen", Svenska Dagbladet, 2005-12-14. Retrieved on December 27, 2006. (in Swedish)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Carter, Mike. "Islamic militant charged by feds", The Seattle Times, 2005-12-14. Retrieved on December 27, 2006.


Persondata
NAME Kassir, Oussama
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Militant Islamist
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Beirut, Lebanon
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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