Oussama Kassir

Oussama Abdallah Kassir (; born 12 January 1966) is a Lebanese-born militant Islamist. He is a citizen of Sweden 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.

Early life Kassir was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He moved to Sweden in 1984 and was granted Swedish citizenship in 1989. He participated in the Lebanese Civil War during the 1980s and was hurt in battle. His last address in Sweden is an apartment in Bandhagen in southern Stockholm.

In September 2002 Kassir told The Seattle Times that, though not technically a member of Al-Qaeda, he was a "supporter" of Osama bin Laden: "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 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.

United States criminal trial

On 12 May 2009 Kassir was found guilty by a federal jury on all eleven charges brought against him. The jury deliberated for five and a half hours. The verdict was commented by terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp as showing differences in evidential requirements from EU courts and was also criticized by civil rights activists.