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Germany court convicts four Islamists over terror plot

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A German court in Dusseldorf on Thursday convicted four Islamists of conspiracy to murder and belonging to a foreign terrorist group for plotting to destroy US facilities within Germany. The four men, members of the radical Islamic Jihad Union, were apprehended in September 2007 while developing a plan to use three car bombs and 250kg of explosives on US targets. The attacks were planned to coincide with a vote in parliament on whether Germany should extend its military presence in Afghanistan. Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel Schneider, both German-born converts to Islam, were sentenced to 12 years in prison. The court also sentenced Adem Yilmaz, a Turkish citizen, to 11 years and Atilla Selek, a German citizen of Turkish origin, to five years. Although there are no formal pleas in German trials, all four mean submitted confessions in exchange for reduced sentencing. The 2007 arrest led to several additions to Germany's anti-terror laws, which were strengthened by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government following 9/11. Earlier this week, Germany's high court overturned an anti-terror law that allowed German authorities access to phone and e-mail data. The data would be stored for six months to be used by police agencies in criminal investigations. The court held that the law was unconstitutional and violated the privacy rights of German citizens. Merkel's government has recently received criticism for the effect anti-terror laws are having on the citizen's privacy rights, claiming a better balance needs to be established between privacy and security.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).