In the middle of the night at the end of September 2023, the bomb detonated in the residential area. The explosion caused great devastation and newly graduated teacher Soha Saad, 24, died while several other people were injured.
The perpetrators made their way to the scene in a white car. In the car there was also a microwave that had been converted into a bomb with 13 kilos of dynamite. Images from a surveillance camera show how one of the men walked up and placed the bomb before lighting the fire and running from the scene.
On Friday, the verdict was handed down in the Uppsala district court.
A 23-year-old man is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Soha Saad, gross destruction of public life and several counts of attempted murder after being the one who planted the bomb in Uppsala. The same 23-year-old is charged with having also transported, placed and detonated a bomb in Hässelby and Linköping respectively – three explosions that have links to each other.
A 34-year-old man was acquitted of the murder and attempted murder in Uppsala, but was convicted of having acted as a driver at the time of the incident. He was jailed for six years and four months for, among other things, aiding and abetting serious devastation.
The person who provided the bomb in Uppsala, but also in Hässelby and Linköping, is a 20-year-old man who is sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for, among other things, a serious violation of the Act on Flammable and Explosive Goods.
Another 23-year-old man received a life sentence. He is sentenced for the explosions in Hässelby and Linköping. He was convicted of, among other things, two counts of gross public destruction and several counts of attempted murder
– There are three very serious events, which have caused enormous destruction of property and, not least, great danger for many people. A young woman has died and there has been a danger that many other people would also die. The penalty value is so high that it is out of the question with a sentence other than life imprisonment for these two people, says chief councilor Maria Hallqvist in a press release.
The text is updated
The bomb was retrieved that evening
Barely three hours before the crime in Uppsala, one of the men got into a taxi to meet one of the other men. At the behest of an instigator on the Signal messaging application, the bomb was handed over, which was kept in a cardboard box. The journey then continued to the area where the third man lives. There the taxi driver helped unload the box with the bomb in it.
At 02:00 the man received a new message on Signal with the address in Fullerö. Shortly thereafter, he left the area. On the way to Fullerö, the instigator urged the man to take a picture of the microwave oven. In the chat, the picture of the microwave was sent – filled with explosives and a stubby wire.
Just over an hour later, the men arrived at the house at Fullerö. One of them planted the bomb before fleeing the scene. Only a minute later it detonated.
The neighbor was a likely target
According to the indictment, the act was carefully planned and “characterized by special intent”, it is also described as particularly reckless.
– I woke up to an explosion, the whole house shook and the windows shook, says a neighbor in questioning.
The real target is believed to have lived in the house next to Soha Saad and according to the prosecutor, the crime is one in a series that can be linked to the internal conflict within the Foxtrot network. In the neighboring house lives a relative of Rawa Majid, also known as the “Kurdish Fox”, and the house was shelled earlier that year.
Connections between multiple bursts
A total of eight men were charged in the case of the three explosions in Uppsala, Linköping and Hässelby. The prosecution has been extensive.
– In connection with the analysis of mobile phones seized in Uppsala, it became clear that the three explosions were connected, as two of the perpetrators were clearly involved in all three explosions and that they received instructions via mobile phone from the same instigator, said senior prosecutor Thomas Bälter , preliminary investigation leader in the Fullerö investigation in connection with the prosecution.
The text is updated