Terrorist who posed with bodies in Syria jailed years after MI6 failure

Sweden has jailed Bherlin Gildo for four months for links to Al Qaeda

A Swedish man has been jailed for affiliation to Al Qaeda and posing with dead bodies. AP

Al Qaeda-linked terrorist Bherlin Gildo has been jailed for four months in Sweden for international crimes committed in Syria which saw him pose with corpses.

His conviction comes seven years after a trial against him in the UK collapsed amid allegations Britain’s security and intelligence agencies would have been deeply embarrassed had it gone ahead.

Gildo, also known as Nathan Benoitzon, has been convicted of international law crimes by having, together with others, subjected several people from the opposing side in Syria to humiliating and degrading treatment, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen.

He is alleged to have posed for photographs and been filmed standing with his foot next to a severed head and in other images was seen pointing a gun at three men.

According to the prosecutor, the images were to be used as propaganda for the Al Qaeda-linked terror group, Kataib Al Muhajireen, of which Gildo is accused of being a member.

On Wednesday, the Blekinge district court found that Gildo acted criminally by posing with corpses or severely mutilated bodies in Syria between 2012 and 2013.

He has been sentenced to four months due to the timelapse between the commission of the crimes.

Gildo, who originally came from the Philippines to Sweden in 1992, was first arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in 2014 during a stopover on his way from Copenhagen to Manila.

The British police accused him of attending a terrorist training camp and receiving weapons training between August 31, 2012, and March 1, 2013, as well as possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist.

But in 2015, the case was thrown out after the prosecution offered no evidence.

The terror charges related to weapons training and possessing terrorist materials, including a magazine called 44 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad.

The case collapsed after his defence successfully argued that it would have been an “affront to justice” to press ahead with the trial due to the possible involvement of MI6.

“If it is the case that HM government was actively involved in supporting armed resistance to the Assad regime at a time when the defendant was present in Syria and himself participating in such resistance, it would be unconscionable to allow the prosecution to continue,” his barrister Henry Blaxland said at the time.

His lawyers argued that British intelligence agencies were supporting the same Syrian opposition groups.

In September 2021, the Swedish security services took the decision to push ahead with prosecuting him.

During his trial, Gildo admitted being in Syria but claimed he was having a holiday.