JURIST - Paper Chase: Denmark court sentences men to 12 years for terrorism plot

[JURIST] The Glostrup City Court on Monday sentenced four men to 12 years in prison for their attempt to kill people inside the office of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten (JP) [media website]. Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri, Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla Aboelazm and Sabhi Ben Mohamed Zalouti, all Swedish residents of African or Middle Eastern origin, attempted a shooting spree in JP's headquarters in 2010 as retaliation for publishing drawings of the Islamic prophet Muhammed [JURIST news archive] in 2005. The publication offended many Muslims and created numerous incidents resulting in violence and death [JURIST reports]. The prosecution had offered evidence of recordings that contained communications between the four men revealing their plans against the newspaper. Most of them were arrested in Denmark when they arrived from Sweden a few hours before the planned shooting spree. During the arrest, the police had found automatic guns and USD $20,000 in their possession.

The Muhammad cartoon controversy has sparked numerous terror attack attempts on the newspaper. In January, a Norwegian court convicted [JURIST report] two men accused of planning an attack against JP. The case constituted the first case under the country's anti-terror laws. Earlier last year, a Danish court sentenced [JURIST report] Somali Islamist Muhideen Mohammed Geelle to nine years in prison for his 2010 attack on Kurt Westergaard, illustrator of the cartoon after the prosecution amended [JURIST report] the complaint by adding charge of terrorism in January.