clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Hungary detains Syrian Daesh member accused of killings

March 22, 2019 at 8:15 pm

People who fled Daesh can be seen in the back of trucks in an area controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on 4 March 2019 [Bulent KILIC/AFP/Getty]

Hungarian authorities detained a Syrian man on Friday accused of taking part in beheadings in Syria as a member of Daesh, Budapest prosecutors and the European judicial co-operation agency Eurojust said, Reuters reports.

The 27-year-old man, identified by Hungarian authorities as F. Hassan, is suspected of executing about 20 people in 2016, all family members of a person in Homs city who refused to join Daesh, Hungarian prosecutors said.

“In a rapid intervention, coordinated by Eurojust, the Hungarian authorities have arrested a high-profile target suspected of committing terrorist activities in Syria, linked to the so-called Daesh,” Eurojust said in a statement.

READ: Hungary opens trade representation office in Jerusalem

The suspect had refugee status in Greece, it said.

He was caught with forged documents in Budapest’s main airport on Dec. 30 last year, given a suspended prison sentence for human trafficking and other crimes, and ordered expelled from Hungary, Hungarian authorities said.

Prior to his arrival in Hungary, the suspect had visited a number of other European countries, Hungary’s Counter Terrorism Centre said.