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Europe jihadi briefs
 Swiss indict 3 over alleged al-Qaeda propaganda videos 21 September [Ynet] Federal prosecutors in Switzerland on Thursday announced indictments of the leader of a prominent Swiss Islamic group and two other top members over alleged al-Qaeda propaganda videos posted on YouTube. Contacted by phone in Bangladesh, one of the suspects rejected the case as "politically motivated." Attorney General Michael Lauber's office alleges the three members of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland violated Swiss laws banning al-Qaeda, Islamic State and associated radical groups. His office and federal police have opened about 60 cases linked to alleged "jihadi-motivated terrorism," mostly involving propaganda. The indictments target ICCS President Nicolas Blancho, the group's cultural production chief Naim Cherni, who is a German citizen, and spokesman Abdel Azziz Qaasim Illi, said Illi in a phone interview. Blancho and Illi are both Swiss citizens, he said. They all remain free. Danes charge 2 men with joining radical Islamic groups 21 September [Ynet] Danish prosecutors say two men, including a Finnish national, have been charged with violating Denmark's terrorist laws by traveling to Syria and Somalia to receive weapons training and join extremist groups. Prosecutor Jan Reckendorff says one of the men joined the Islamic State group in Syria and the other joined the al-Shabab group in Somalia. The men, both aged 24, received weapon training during their trips. Reckendorff said Wednesday the men, who were not identified, joined the groups in 2013 to 2015. It was not immediately clear whether there is a link between the men, who were both arrested in January and live in western Denmark. The men face at least four years in jail and the Finn face deportation. No date for a trial was immediately announced. Denmark arrests man, woman for alleged links to IS 21 September [Ynet] Danish authorities say two people have been arrested under the country's anti-terror laws for allegedly purchasing and shipping items "to be used in combat" from Denmark to the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Domestic intelligence agency official Flemming Dreyer said that the activities of the 28-year-old man and 29-year-old woman—whose names and nationalities were not given—were "intended to support the Islamic State group." Copenhagen police spokesman Joergen Bergen Skov said that raids were carried out in the suburbs of the Danish capital Thursday, and that the suspects would face a pre-trial detention hearing Friday. Germany: Syrian refugee jailed over UN observer's abduction 20 September [AlAhram] A German court has convicted a Syrian refugee of being an accessory to a war crime against humanitarian operations over his participation in the 2013 kidnapping of a United Nations observer. The Stuttgart state court Wednesday sentenced the defendant, who has been identified only as Suliman Al-S. in line with German privacy rules, to 3 ½ years in prison. The court found the defendant backed the kidnapping and offered to serve as a guard, but didn't find conclusive proof that the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's branch in Syria, was behind the kidnapping or that the defendant belonged to it. Prosecutors haven't identified the observer but the facts released correspond with those of the kidnapping of Canadian lawyer Carl Campeau, who was abducted from a Damascus suburb. He escaped after eight months.
Police arrest Pakistani jihadi suspect in Spain 19 September [Ynet] Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested a Pakistani man suspected of promoting terrorism and spreading Islamic jihadi propaganda on social media networks. A ministry statement the 25-year-old resident of the northern Catalan city of Lleida was part of a cell partially dismantled with the arrest of three Pakistani brothers in Lleida last year. The ministry said the man detained Tuesday had become more engrossed in radical activities in recent weeks. German court convicts two Syrian fighters on terror charges 19 September [DW] Two refugees in Germany have been convicted on terrorism related charges for fighting alongside rebels in Syria. It is the first such process in Bavaria against former Syrian rebels. Kamel T., 25, was sentenced to four years in prison, while his friend Azad R., 23, was given two years' parole due to his age at the time of the crime. The two were accused of being members of a foreign terrorist organization in Syria, where they fought alongside the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... militant group. They also violated the German laws on the use of weapon in foreign war zones. The charges stem from the two Syrians' role as sentries for Ahrar al-Sham in Aleppo between August 2013 and April 2014. During this time Ahrar al-Sham fought the Syrian military and other rebel factions. Azad R. was wounded in the leg in clashes that left him partially paralyzed. His friend cared for him as the two came through the Balkan migrant route, arriving in Germany in 2015. Denmark charges 26-year-old man accused of joining Isis 12 September [TheLocal.dk] A list of names obtained by Danish police has led to six men being accused of joining terror group Islamic State. The information led to the trial of a 26-year-old man at Aarhus City Court, reports the Ritzau news agency. The man is accused of joining the Islamic State (Isis) terror group on Syria and undergoing training in how to commit acts of terror. According to the charge sheet, the man travelled to Syria to this end around September 1st 2013. He is charged with undergoing militant training and training in the use of weapons and explosives over a two-week period. The case against man, a 26-year-old foreign citizen who lives in eastern Jutland, is part of a larger case against six suspected terrorists, writes Ritzau. Information from American security services led Danish police to the six men, according to the report. “The common characteristic in these cases is that American authorities have provided files found at an Islamic State border checkpoint,” deputy state prosecutor Anders Riisager told Ritzau. The files included the names of both Danish citizens and Denmark-based foreign nationals. The five other men will also appear in court later in the year, with the prosecution seeking prison sentences in excess of four years, according to the report. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-09-23 |
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