Suspected ISIS terrorist recants alleged confession
A 27-year-old Syrian national arrested at a migrant camp in Athens last week has reportedly recanted an earlier confession in which he allegedly admitted to being a member of the ISIS terrorist organization and appearing in a 2014 video of the group.
In his testimony to a public prosecutor on Tuesday, the unnamed suspect claimed that he had been forced into making his confession through the “use of torture,” the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) reported him as saying.
The 27-year-old, who was remanded in custody pending trial after his testimony to the prosecutor and an investigating magistrate on Tuesday, is being accused of membership in a criminal organization and of participating in murder. According to reports, the ISIS fighters featured in the 2014 video posted on social media went on to execute several of a group of men they are seen harassing in the footage.
After being arrested at the Eleonas migrant camp in Athens last week, the 27-year-old had allegedly pointed himself out in the video to investigators and admitted to being a part of the organization.
More light is expected to be shed on the case from the results of a forensics examination of cell phones and other electronic devices that were confiscated during the police’s raid on the container home the suspect shared with his wife and four children at the Eleonas camp, the ANA-MPA said.
