Poya Shafie: Swedish appeal court upholds life sentence for Foxtrot figure
The Stockholm appeal court upheld Poya Shafie’s life sentence on 6 October. The case concerns murder plans and attempted murders within the Foxtrot network. Some charges failed on appeal, but the court considered the remaining offences serious enough to justify life imprisonment.
SVT describes Shafie as a central figure in Foxtrot and a close associate of Rawa Majid. Södertörn District Court convicted him in June. Svea Court of Appeal reconsidered the case under number B 11129-26.
According to the court, people linked to Foxtrot planned several murders in Stockholm and Sundsvall during the winter and spring of 2023 to send a message to rival criminal networks. It found that Shafie used his position to direct and exploit others to commit offences, including instigating and assisting attempted murders.
He was acquitted on some counts. Nevertheless, the court found that an exceptionally serious group of offences remained, carrying a combined sentencing value clearly above eighteen years. The danger to innocent people’s lives and health also mattered. The fact that the planned murders were not completed did not, in its view, prevent a life sentence.
In the same appeal, another man who had previously been acquitted was convicted of a serious firearms offence.
