2 Swedes sentenced to life for Syria killings

A Swedish court on Monday sentenced two men to life in prison for "terror crimes" in connection with two murders committed in Syria in 2013, the court announced. 

Hassan al-Mandlawi, 32, and al-Amin Sultan, 30, both Swedish nationals, were in the court in southwestern Gothenburg for the sentencing over their role in the April 2013 decapitation of two people in Syria's second city of Aleppo.

The men were convicted after police found a USB stick containing films showing the killings during a raid. 

In a video, masked men are shown standing around three men on their knees with their hands tied. 

Two of the men then have their throats slit while the third's head is cut off and displayed. The other men in the video then cheer loudly. 

While the two Swedish nationals do not actually participate in the murders, the court ruled that since the men - who feature in the video - intended to seriously intimidate the population of Syria, that they were guilty of a terrorist crime.

"They didn't hold the knife, but otherwise they were highly involved," prosecutor Agnetha Hildning Qvarnstrom said during the trial.