BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A Hungarian court has ordered the arrest of a 27-year-old Syrian man suspected of taking part in beheadings in Syria as a member of Islamic State, Hungarian prosecutors said on Sunday.
The man, previously identified by Hungarian authorities as F. Hassan, is suspected of executing about 20 people in 2016, all family members of a person in Homs city who refused to join Islamic State, prosecutors have said.
Based on a motion filed by Hungarian prosecutors, a Budapest court on Sunday ordered the arrest of the man for a month. Under Hungarian law, the man is suspected of murder committed as part of an act of terror and of preparations to commit an act of terror.
Hungarian state news agency MTI cited Hassan's lawyer, Laszlo Kelen, as saying that Hassan had asserted his innocence throughout his questioning as a suspect. Kelen was not immediately reachable for comment.
Hungarian authorities are also investigating Hassan's previous activities and connections in Europe, the Counter Terrorism Centre, a special police forces unit has said.
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)