Oussama Kassir

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

Kassir was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He came to Sweden in 1984 and was granted Swedish 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 months in prison for possessing illegal firearms. While serving his sentence at the Österåker Prison he became a friend of Kérim Chatty, who was suspected of attempted hijacking of a Ryanair flight in Västerås but cleared of all terrorism-related charges. [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, 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] On September 25, 2007 Kassir was extradited from Prague to the United States where he will face trial.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Svensk man sitter häktad i Prag för terrorbrott (Swedish). Efterlyst (2006-12-13). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
  2. ^ Nilsson, Torbjörn. "Svensk kopplas till terrorgripen", Svenska Dagbladet, 2005-12-14. Retrieved on 2006-12-27. (Swedish) 
  3. ^ a b c d e f Carter, Mike. "Islamic militant charged by feds", The Seattle Times, 2005-12-14. Retrieved on 2006-12-27. 
  4. ^ "Swedish terror suspect extradited to United States", Agence France-Presse/The Local, 2007-09-25. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. 
Persondata
NAME Kassir, Oussama
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kassir, Oussama Abdallah (full name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Militant Islamist
DATE OF BIRTH 12 January 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Beirut, Lebanon
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH