Ahmad Akileh was recently convicted to imprisonment for 1 year and 10 months for the fatal beating of a 78 years old woman in Sweden.

This week, his lawyer appealed and the court released Ahmad Akileh. He is now awaiting a new trial.

Swedish court convicted Ahmad Akileh, born August 12, 1986, for aggravated assault and aggravated manslaughter. The court sentenced him to imprisonment for 1 year and 10 months.

He must also pay 43 000 SEK ($5,500) to Sven Wickman and 18 944 SEK ($2,400) to the estate of Mrs Wickman.

Read our older posts here.

David Moses Jassy, born 1974, got 15 years to life for a very similar crime. But that was in U.S.

The trial against the 23-year-old Ahmad Akileh in Landskrona, Sweden, has begun. For a background, please see earlier posts: Ahmad Akileh

Ahmad Akileh testified to his defense that he got “stressed” when the 71-year-old man (the husband of the dead woman) started waving his hands in front of his face.

Ahmad Akileh pushed away the 71-year-old a few times. He claims he pushed the man with open hands. But Ahmad admits that he probably hit the older man’s face. And that some of the “pushes” might have been hard.

After a while, the man fell with his back on the hood of the car.

Ahmad Akileh claims he took a hasty step back. Doing so, he felt that he bumped into something. He made a circular movement with his upper body and saw that Inger, the 78-year-old woman, was laying on the ground, bleeding. Ahmad Akileh claims he never saw her before that.

Sven, the 71-year-old man, of course, gives another version of the events. According him, he was beaten in the face with a fist. When he fell over the hood, Ahmad Akileh continued hitting him several times in the back with his fist.

At the same time, Sven noticed that his wife came up from behind and tried to stop the beating. Ahmad Akileh turned in the direction of Inger and struck her in the face.

A third version is given by an eye-witness. The eye-witness says the blow was directed against Inger’s shoulder or chest.

On a direct question from Ahmad Akileh’s lawyer the eye-witness says the blow hit the woman, but he couldn’t be quite sure.

Inger took a step back, before she fell.

And how about evidence?

The coroner states that the dead woman had bruising, particularly around the eye. One or more injuries could have been caused by violence from another person, but also says that other causes are also possible. Let us not speculate about this, but a bruising around the eye? Caused by something else?

I can’t help noticing the similarities with David Moses Jassy, who was found guilty of murdering John Osnes, a 55-year-old musician and pedestrian activist. Osnes, nearly got hit by Jassy’s car in a Hollywood crosswalk. Osnes banged on the hood of Jassy’s car. Jassy got out, punched Osnes in the face and then gave him a brutal kick in the head as he bent to pick up his glasses so that he toppled to the ground.

Jassy claimed he assaulted pedestrian John Osnes because he feared for the safety of himself, his girlfriend and the car.

Los Angeles County Superior Court jury convicted him on Feb. 1 of second-degree murder, assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury. Jurors acquitted him of first-degree murder and two other charges. [[Read more]]

Young men (both Swedish) beating older people to death, and then claim they did it because they were afraid? I don’t get it.

If you are 23 years old, there is no excuse for beating up somebody at age 71 or 78. You just walk away.

Why didn’t Ahmad Akileh have that common sense?

because this was never about a parking spot in the first place? Wasn’t this just a young man taking out his anger on someone.

Which, in my eyes, makes it murder. Just like in the case of David Moses Jassy.

The Swedish justice system and Swedish media, however, have a different opinion.

In the aggravated manslaughter of a 78-year-old woman in Sweden, the suspect Ahmad Akileh now admits that he was on the scene.

Through his lawyer, Ahmad Akileh claims that it was all an accident.

Read the background on this manslaughter that has upset a whole nation and put focus on racism, the roles of the press and other media, such as Facebook: Kills a 78-year Old Woman Over a Parking Spot and Should We Sympathize with the Perpetrator?

The recent article (see earlier post) by Britta Svensson started a discussion about the role of official media and journalists. And the role of Facebook and blogs like this one.

It is well-known that Facebook has become a playground for all sorts of hate groups. Anybody can start a group within minutes. The murder of the 78-year-old woman sparkled more than one of these groups, targeting the 23-year-old man accused of the assault.

Swedish press rarely publish name and photo of suspects. But since many documents are public, anybody can get hold of the name. And then the search is on for a photo.

A man living in Denmark and with the same name as the accused, found that his photo was connected to the accused in one of these hate groups. Someone got to eager finding a picture. And got the wrong one. The man stands alone when he is trying to get his name cleared.

Does this mean that internet requires regulation, just as film, television and computer games? If so, where should the line be drawn?

And is right to blame a technology company like Facebook?

I think we need to realize that people today turn elsewhere for information. Leaving a gap between trusted media and other sources. And this gap is widening. A reason for concern for journalists like Britta Svensson?

Read more about the Danish man who got his identity mixed up with the accused: SVD (in swedish).

Expressen Web Page

Read the background on the murder of a 78-year-old woman in Sweden in this post.

Today, Britta Svensson, a journalist at one of the largest news papers in Sweden, Expressen, writes a long article about the case.

She seems upset because the image of Ahmad Akileh does not match her image of a killer. And because he is not allowed to speak to his wife, that shows up in the court room with a baby of one moth of age. The wife burst into tears and police force her to leave.

Britta Svensson writes: “The 23-year-old turns and his eyes are black with despair. His young wife tries to break through, but the police stops her. The man who has just been arrested on suspicion of aggravated manslaughter can not hold her baby.”

Svensson is, in other words, trying to paint the picture of a perpetrator being a victim. This is not uncommon in Swedish press. In fact, I have a feeling, this has been common since late sixties when there was a general perception of criminals as victims.

But I doubt that the public today, in general, see perpetrators as victims.

Isn’t it true that everybody make choices, and all choices have consequences? But that some people think they will get away with anything?

So far, the accused have not given his side of the story. He still denies, even though police says they have solved the case.

Britta Svensson doesn’t write a word about despair in the eyes of a husband that just lost a wife. Not a word about the despair of friends or relatives that can no longer hold or see a woman who was brutally beaten to death.

And not a word about why this happened. Not a word about the fact that Ahmad Akileh is from another culture, and that maybe, just maybe, this has something to do with the brutal assault.

Isn’t that what we expect of a journalist?

Or is it possible that we no longer care? I mean, people with blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts are creating their own truth. Do they even read what Svensson writes?

Sources (and more reading for those of you who read swedish):

• Svensson’s Article
• Politisktinkorrekt.info
• Carina Rydberg at Newsmill