Islamist from Germany jailed over planned terror attack

A Berlin court has sentenced an Islamist to more than five years in jail for preparing a dangerous bomb attack. The man is from the same milieu as Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri.

A Berlin court on Friday sentenced a 32-year-old Islamist to five years and four months in prison for planning a serious terror attack involving explosives.

The man, identified only as Magomed-Ali C. under German privacy laws, is thought to have intended an attack on a shopping center.

C., originally from the Russian republic of Dagestan, belonged to the same Berlin scene as Anis Amri, the Tunisian terrorist who carried out a truck attack on the Christmas market at the German capital’s Breidscheidplatz square in 2016, killing 12 people including the driver of the truck he stole. The scene centered around the now-banned mosque association Fussilet 33.

Amri, who was later shot dead by police in Italy, is thought by prosecutors to have been involved in plans for the shopping center attack.

C., who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker in 2011, was arrested in August 2018, and his trial started in mid-May, 2019. He has reportedly confessed his loyalty to the “Islamic State” terrorist group.

Source: DW