| 2010 Copenhagen terror plot | |
|---|---|
| Location | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Date | 29 December 2010 |
| Target | Jyllands-Posten , Copenhagen |
Attack type | "Mumbai-style" |
| Weapons | machine guns |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 0 |
| Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy |
|---|
The 2010 Copenhagen terror plot was a terrorist plot against Jyllands-Posten , the publisher of the controversial cartoons of Muhammad in 2005. [1] [2] [3]
In December the most serious terror operation ever uncovered in Denmark before the 2015 Copenhagen shootings was thwarted by a successful cooperation between security services in Denmark and Sweden. Police, accompanied by bomb experts, conducted several raids and detained five men, [4] who were described as militant islamists. [5] Automatic weapons, together with ammunition and silencers, were seized by the police. Plastic strips to use as handcuffs were also found. [6]
The terrorists allegedly plotted to conduct a "Mumbai-style" attack on Jyllands-Posten to revenge the 2005 publishing of the cartoons portraying Muhammad as a terrorist. [1] [7]
As suspects they had been under surveillance for an extended period of time and the arrests were the result of a long investigation. [8] The group travelled to Copenhagen 27 December 2010, Zalouti changed his mind the way to Denmark and returned to Järfälla. Police arrested the group 28 December 2010 in Copenhagen and Zalouti was arrested on the same day in Sweden. [9]
The men were charged with attempted terrorism and unlawful possession of weapons (a machine gun with silencer, a pistol and more than 100 cartridges). [10] [11] On 4 June 2012 they were convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. [12] [ unreliable source ]
The convicted were transferred to a prison in Sweden, Saltviksanstalten in Härnösand which has the highest security level. [13]
Munir Awad, 29, Lebanese-born Swedish national. He received a sentence of 12 years in prison. He was silent during the trial (Danish: Byret), but told his version of events before the appeal court (Danish: Landsret). The state prosecutor demanded a 14-year sentence, while a lay judge recommended a 10-year sentence. The judges and the other lay judges decided on a sentence of 12 years. [14]
While in prison he attempted to contact others by connecting other participants to a phone call with his wife, thereby attempting to communicate with people he was forbidden to contact. According to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, Awad has a network of contacts among radicalized individuals. He was religiously active in the prison and attempted to radicalize inmates. [1]
Munir Awad was previously arrested in Pakistan in 2009 on suspicions of terrorism, together with Mehdi Ghezali, a former Guantanamo-detainee. Munir Awad is the son-in-law of Helena Benaouda , head of the Muslim Council of Sweden. [15] [16] This led some Swedish newspaper editors to question Benaouda's role as head of one of the country's largest Muslim organization. [17] [18] The suspects' various ties to the Stockholm Grand Mosque also stirred up some media attention. Stockholm mosque is a chapter of the Islamic Association of Sweden. [19] [20]
In 2013 he was transferred to Saltvik prison after his appeal to have his conviction overturned in a Danish court was dismissed. Awad was the only one to appeal his conviction. [13]
Sahbi Zalouti had also been previously arrested in Pakistan in 2009 on suspicions of terrorism, roughly at the same time as Munir Awad though not together.[ citation needed ]
The 2006 Ontario terrorism case is the plotting of a series of attacks against targets in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the June 2, 2006 counter-terrorism raids in and around the Greater Toronto Area that resulted in the arrest of 14 adults and 4 youths . These individuals have been characterized as having been inspired by al-Qaeda.
Mirsad Bektašević, alias Maximus, is a Swedish citizen born in Montenegro, Yugoslavia who in 2005 was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, charged with planning a terrorist attack against an unnamed target. Bektašević was convicted in 2007 alongside three other men and sentenced to 15 years and 4 months of imprisonment.
Oussama Abdallah Kassir is a Lebanese-born militant Islamist. He is a citizen of Sweden who served a prison sentence in Sweden on a number of violence and drug related offenses, and was later convicted by an American court for conspiring to support terrorism.
Until the late 2000s terrorism in Sweden was not seen as a serious threat to the security of the state. However, there has been a rise in far right and Islamist terrorist activity in the 21st century.
The Vollsmose terrorists were three men convicted of attempted terrorism in Denmark in 2007–2008. Nine men were initially arrested by Danish police in the Vollsmose neighbourhood of Odense on 5 September 2006, but most were later released without charges, including a police mole who played a role in the investigation and trial. Four men were charged with attempted terrorism, three of whom were convicted. According to Danish police, the group had been under investigation for quite a while.
On September 4, 2007, two men who were planning a terror attack were arrested along several others by Danish police officers and Security Intelligence Service agents in several coordinated actions throughout the Greater Copenhagen area. The two men were later convicted and sentenced to twelve and seven years in prison, respectively. In Danish, it became known as the "terror case from Glasvej" after the road where the convicted ringleader had his apartment, which had been under surveillance for an extended period of time before the arrests. It is unknown if the target of the planned bombing was in Denmark or abroad.
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Munir Awad is a Lebanon-born citizen of Sweden who was convicted of plotting a terrorist attack in Denmark. Munir Awad, and his fiancée were arrested in Kenya in 2007 when Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia and foreigners were detained as suspected terrorists. On December 29, 2010 Awad was arrested in Denmark and in 2012 was found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack in revenge for Jyllands-Posten's publication of Muhammad cartoons.
Najibullah Zazi is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali, al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf, an al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were later killed in drone attacks.
On 11 December 2010, two bombs exploded in central Stockholm, killing the bomber. Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) described the bombings as acts of terrorism.
Mohamoud Jama and Bille Ilias Mohamed are two Swedish citizens of Somali descent who were convicted of "conspiracy to commit terrorist crime" by the District court in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2010. The men, who both denied the accusations, were sentenced to four years in prison by the court.
Omar Abdalla Aboelazm is a Swedish citizen who was arrested in Denmark in 2010 over a suspected terror plot against the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Terrorism in Denmark refers to terrorist attacks carried out in Denmark or by people connected to Denmark. Like other countries Denmark increased its focus on defending against terrorist attacks after the September 11 attacks in New York in 2001. The September 11 attacks led to strengthened laws in a number of areas. 31 May 2002 the parliament of Denmark approved anti-terror legislation with the aim of preventing terrorism in Denmark and internationally. The new legislation aligned with the definitions of terrorism which were in use by the European Union and the United Nations.
On 14–15 February 2015, three separate shootings occurred in Copenhagen, Denmark. In total, two victims and the perpetrator were killed, while five police officers were wounded.
On 22 July 1985, two bombs exploded in a terrorist attack in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the bombs exploded near the Great Synagogue and a Jewish nursing home and kindergarten, and another at the offices of Northwest Orient Airlines. At least one more bomb, planned for the El Al airline offices, was discovered. One person was killed and 26 people were injured in the attacks. Sweden-based Palestinians Abu Talb and Marten Imandi were sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden for the bombings, which were part of a series of attacks in 1985 and 1986, while two co-conspirators received lesser sentences of one and six years imprisonment.
The 2010 Norway terror plot was a Norway-based plan to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and to kill the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. Two men with links to Al-Qaeda were convicted of the plot, while a third person was acquitted of terror charges.
Islamic terrorism in Europe has been carried out by the Islamic State (ISIL) or Al-Qaeda as well as Islamist lone wolves since the late 20th century. Europol, which releases the annual EU Terrorism Situation and Trend report (TE-SAT), used the term "Islamist terrorism" in the years 2006–2010, "religiously inspired terrorism" 2011–2014, and has used "jihadist terrorism" since 2015. Europol defines jihadism as "a violent ideology exploiting traditional Islamic concepts".
On 7 April 2017, a vehicle-ramming Islamist terrorist attack took place in central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. A hijacked truck was deliberately driven into crowds along Drottninggatan before being crashed into an Åhléns department store. Five people, the youngest an 11 year old girl, were killed. 14 others were seriously injured.
Helena Hummasten, also known as Helena Benaouda, is a former chair of the Swedish Muslim Council.
