1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Crime

'Cyber jihadi' sentenced to 5 years in Germany

June 12, 2020

A German court has sentenced a self-styled 'cyber jihadi' to five years in prison. The defendant was found guilty of sending night vision devices, firearms-cleaning equipment, and other material to Syrian militia.

The upper regional court in Düsseldorf. Archive image from 2010.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd

A man known for calling himself the "cyber jihadi" on social media was sentenced by a German court to five years prison on Friday for aiding a terrorist organization. 

A regional court in the western German city of Düsseldorf sentenced the 39-year-old German-Tunisian man, whose name was not released for reasons of privacy, to time in prison for supporting the Islamist terror militia Ahrar al-Sham.

The defendant was found guilty of sending night vision devices, firearms-cleaning equipment, and ambulance vehicles to the militia group in Syria. He was also accused of spreading propaganda in support of the Islamic State (IS). 

The defendant's lawyers had sought an acquittal for their client.

Prior to his arrest, the man had referred to himself as a "cyber jihadi" on social media, according to news agency dpa. 

Police later found an IS training video on his computer that showed people being killed. 

kp/msh (AP, dpa)

DW sends out a daily selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here.

Skip next section Explore more
Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW