Danish justice sentenced an Islamic State sympathizer to 16 years in prison on Tuesday December 20 for a planned bombing, the heaviest sentence handed down in the Scandinavian country in a case under anti-terrorism legislation.
Ali Al Masry, the 35-year-old accused of Syrian origin, was found guilty of "
attempted terrorist act
" by the court in Holbaek, a suburb of Copenhagen, as well as financing and promoting "
terrorist activities
" jihadist-motivated.
“We prevented an attack from being carried out”
It was in this city that he was arrested in February 2021 during a joint dragnet between Denmark and Germany, as well as his wife and her brother, a former IS fighter in Iraq and Syria.
"
The trial did not determine where a terrorist attack might have taken place, but we are confident that with the arrests made, we prevented an attack from being carried out
," prosecutors John Catre Nielsen and Kirsten said. Jensen in a statement.
The accused pleaded not guilty, saying that the 12 kilos of powder and chemicals found hidden in his home were to be used to create fireworks.
In detention since his arrest, he must be expelled when he leaves prison.
His wife, 31, and brother, 37, were acquitted of aiding and abetting charges but found guilty
of "providing financial support ... to a person linked to the Islamic State
".
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They are sentenced respectively to nine and six months of imprisonment, followed by expulsion for the brother.
According to Danish media, the two men are from Syria, while the woman is of Iraqi origin, but has Danish nationality.