German court convicts Syrian refugee minor for bomb plans
April 10, 2017
The court found the boy declared a desire to carry out a bombing, but the plan was in an early stage. Judges said the boy's loneliness at the refugee center and time on the internet contributed to his radicalization.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa /O. Berg
Advertisement
A German court in the western city of Cologne on Monday convicted a 16-year-old Syrian refugee for planning to carry out a terror attack.
The regional court sentenced the defendant, whose name wasn't made public in line with privacy laws, to two years in youth prison.
Police arrested the boy at a refugee center near Cologne, where he was living with his parents, in September. A battery carrier with wires, sewing needles and a small butane gas canister were found in the defendant's possession during the raid.
Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Several times over the past 18 months, police have managed to thwart terror attacks and plots in Germany, which has clearly become a target for Islamic militants in Europe. The following made the headlines:
Image: Reuters/M. Rehle
Leipzig, October 2016
Police in Leipzig arrested 22-year-old Syrian refugee Jaber al-Bakr after a two-day manhunt following the discovery of explosives and other bomb-making equipment at his apartment in Chemnitz. He was suspected of plotting to attack a Berlin airport. Two days later, he hanged himself in his prison cell.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Willnow
Ansbach, July 2016
In July, the "Islamic State" (IS) claimed responsibility for two attacks carried out by asylum seekers. 15 people were injured in a crowded wine bar next to the entrance to a music festival in the Bavarian town of Ansbach after a rejected Syrian asylum seeker detonated an explosive device. The man killed himself in the attack.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/D. Karmann
Würzburg, July 2016
A 17-year-old asylum seeker wielding an axe and a knife went on a rampage on a regional train near Würzburg, seriously injuring four members of a tourist family from Hong Kong and a passer-by. The attacker was shot dead by police. German authorities said the teenager was believed to be a "lone wolf" inspired by the IS, but without being a member of the network.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Hildenbrand
Düsseldorf, May 2016
Three suspected members of the "Islamic State" terror network were arrested in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Baden Württemberg. Authorities say two of the men planned to blow themselves up in downtown Düsseldorf, while the other attacker and a fourth jihadist arrested in France planned to target pedestrians with guns and explosive devices.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hitij
Essen, April 2016
Police arrested three people over a bomb blast that injured three people in a Sikh temple in Essen. The bomb detonated after a wedding party, blowing out windows and destroying a part of the building's exterior. A 16-year-old suspect turned himself in after police showed footage of the attack from a surveillance camera and special police units arrested another young suspect in his parents' home.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kusch
Hanover, February 2016
German-Moroccan Safia S. is charged with stabbing a police officer at the main train station in the northern city of Hanover. The 16-year-old girl is suspected of having been "motivated by members of the Islamic State group in Syria to commit this act," chief prosecutor Simon Heinrichs said.
Image: Polizei
Berlin, February 2016
In separate raids across the country, police arrested three Algerians suspected of links to the "Islamic State" militant group and of having planned a terrorist attack in Berlin. The Berlin prosecutor's office said prosecutors were aware of a "concrete" plan to target the capital.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Oberursel, April 2015
The Eschborn-Frankfurt City loop bike race was called off after German police discovered it may have been the target of an Islamist terror attack. A 35-year-old German with a Turkish background and his 34-year-old wife were arrested on suspicion of planning the attack. Police found bomb-making materials in their home near the bike route.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Dedert
8 images1 | 8
The court found enough evidence that the boy had declared himself willing to carry out an attack in an internet chat with "a person close to the 'Islamic State' in Israel." He also received instructions on how to make a bomb.
Judges said the terror plan was in a very early stage and there was no threat to the public.
The court attributed the boy's radicalization to loneliness at the refugee center and spending most of his time on a cell phone.
"In addition, he spent a lot of time online and with chat contacts," the court said. "Through these contacts he developed an Islamist-jihadist worldview."
The boy denied his intent to carry out an attack was serious. The court didn't believe him.
Among the witness was the boy's father, a merchant who described himself in a statement as belonging the opposition against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The boy came to Germany in 2015 with both his parents and sister after they fled the civil war in Syria.
