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Police vehicles on September 16, 2021 in front of the synagogue in Hagen
Photo: Markus Klümper / dpa
In mid-October 2021, the police went on a large-scale operation in Hagen.
North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister Herbert Reul (CDU) later said that "a very serious and concrete tip was received" that day.
The synagogue in the city center was closed on the evening of Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, and searched with explosive dogs. Reul spoke of an "Islamist-motivated threat".
The police arrested the then 16-year-old Oday J. near the main train station.
The allegations are based on Telegram messages
The trial against the youth before the Hagen district court began a few days ago; the public was excluded because of his age.
Even after the trial had started, only limited information was made public about how concrete the attack plans were and how far advanced they were.
The defendant had previously denied plans to attack.
When asked, his lawyer Ihsan Tanyolu said he did not want to comment before the trial.
J. is accused of preparing a "serious crime that endangers the state," specifically he is said to have planned a bomb attack on the synagogue in downtown Hagen.
J. has Syrian nationality and, according to SPIEGEL information, came to Germany via Beirut in the spring of 2015 as part of a family reunification.
The allegations against him are based on files and Telegram messages found on J.'s cell phone.
According to the indictment, J. joined an Arabic-language Telegram chat on August 17, 2021 under the name “Oday Oday”.
There he is said to have come into contact with a man with the alias "Abu Harb" who is still unknown to this day.
Possible excuses were included
J. wanted to know if this man, whose alias can be translated as "Father of War," could teach him "how to make a bomb."
The target of this bomb is a synagogue.
According to the indictment, J. received detailed instructions on the purchase of certain components such as fertilizer or sulfur.
"Abu Harb", who is said to come from the area of the "Islamic State" (IS), also provided possible excuses for any critical inquiries when shopping: he should say that he wanted to fertilize the garden.
There is also an aerial photo of the Hagen synagogue in the news, on which a certain spot was marked in red.
According to the instructor, this is the best anchorage point because "many people would die."
At the very least, J. probably didn't need the excuse to buy fertilizer, the student apparently didn't have the money with which to buy the ingredients.
He is said to have stated in the Telegram chat with "Abu Harb" that he wanted to get money to buy the components and wait for a Jewish holiday.
Later in the news, the cost of building an explosives belt was also a topic, which at "$200" was apparently too expensive.
J. is said to have received detailed blueprints for the remotely detonable bomb, which cost only "$50."
The investigators received the information about J. in September 2021 from the Federal Intelligence Service, which in turn had received its information from a foreign secret service.
According to SPIEGEL information, no bomb components were found during a search of the apartment near Hagen train station, where J. lived with his parents and two brothers.
The prosecution is therefore likely to be based primarily on the chat messages.
And on the various IS propaganda messages and videos that were found on J.'s cell phone: 544 video files, for example, including execution recordings, anti-Semitic sermons or recordings of attacks.
According to a witness, about six months before his arrest, J. started dressing differently than in the past and only wore long clothes even in warm weather.
Since June 2021 he has apparently excessively consumed the video files on his cell phone.
At the beginning of the trial on February 25, the youth was silent, but that could change this Monday.
Lawyer Tanyolu said when asked that "my client would then probably appear".
