• Sweden edition
National

Swedish terror suspects plead 'not guilty'

Published: 13 Apr 12 10:45 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/40244/20120413/

The three Swedish citizens and one Tunisian citizen resident of Sweden who are charged with being behind the planned terror attack on the Jyllands-Posten daily denied all charges when the trial finally begun in Copenhagen on Friday.

The police presence was significant outside the court room where the four men were brought, in handcuffs, to face the court.

The place was also swarming with press, both domestic and international, who wanted to catch a glimpse of the suspects in the highly publicized case, according to the TT news agency.

"This is a serious terror case and perhaps the most serious one we have ever had, as it came closer to being realized than previous ones," said Danish state attorney Gyrithe Ulrich to Sveriges Radio prior to the trial’s opening.

The four men; Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla, Sahbi Zalouti, and Mounir Dhahri are under suspicion for preparing what Danish officials called a plan to "kill as many people as possible" in an assault on the Copenhagen offices of the Jyllands-Posten daily.

The men now face charges of "attempted terrorism" over what prosecutors say was a plot to "kill a large number of people" at the Jyllands-Posten daily's offices in Copenhagen.

Prosecutor Henrik Plähn said during the trial that the target was the Jyllands-Posten premises at the Rådhusplatsen square in the city.

On the night of the planned attack, the premises were set to hold a sports award ceremony, which Crown Prince Fredrik was to attend.

"But we don't think that the Crown Prince was the number one target," Plähn said.

Danish police, who had been collaborating with their Swedish counterparts and had been wiretapping the men, arrested them just after hearing them say they were "going to" the newspaper office on December 29th 2010.

A machine gun with a silencer, a revolver and 108 bullets and reams of duct
tape were among the items found in the men's possession when they were arrested.

Before the charges could be filed, the case had to pass through the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Rigsadvokaten), the special international crimes office (Statsadvokaten) and the Danish ministry for justice (Justitsdepatementet), said prosecutor Helene Schröder in December last year.

Jyllands-Posten published a dozen cartoons in 2005 of the Prophet Muhammad that triggered violent and sometimes deadly protests around the world.

The paper has since been the target of many foiled attacks but Ulrich sees this case as the most serious in a series of revealed terror plans since the publication of the cartoons.

The four men all denied the terror charges as the trial opened at 9am on Friday morning, according to local paper B.T.

TT/AFP/The Local
twitter.com/thelocalsweden

What do you think? Leave your comment below.

Your comments about this article:

The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated. Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.

11:16 April 13, 2012 by Rishonim
Throw the book at them and after that deport them to the rat holes they ascended from.
11:28 April 13, 2012 by Uncle
Of COURSE they are not guilty! One is guilty only if one does something wrong. They only followed whatever Allah sent them to do.
16:24 April 13, 2012 by occassional
"The three Swedish citizens and one Tunisian citizen resident of Sweden ... Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla, Sahbi Zalouti, and Mounir Dhahri "

Which one is the Tunisian?
16:36 April 13, 2012 by Querist
.

"The four men; Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla, Sahbi Zalouti, and Mounir Dhahri ..."

TO: The Local

Printing the names of accussed and/or criminals is repugnant to the concept of censorship. Censorship is vital for a stable society.

If these men were ethnic Swedes - their names would have been redacted!

Shame on you. What were you thinking?

.
17:38 April 13, 2012 by Rod Munch
18:33 April 13, 2012 by bcterry
Report abuse »

#4

16:36 April 13, 2012 by Querist

"The four men; Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla, Sahbi Zalouti, and Mounir Dhahri ..."

TO: The Local

Printing the names of accussed and/or criminals is repugnant to the concept of censorship. Censorship is vital for a stable society.

If these men were ethnic Swedes - their names would have been redacted!

Shame on you. What were you thinking?"

That's absolutely ridiculous, the names of those who are charged with a crime are always made public, unless they are juveniles.

Why you would be against these names being made public?

I highly doubt that it was in the interest of censorship.
18:48 April 13, 2012 by Rod Munch
If these people were ethnic Swedes, their un-pixilated photos would be splattered across the newspapers along with their names. What planet are you living on?
19:12 April 13, 2012 by bcterry
18:48 April 13, 2012 by Rod Munch

If these people were ethnic Swedes, their un-pixilated photos would be splattered across the newspapers along with their names. What planet are you living on? "

Planet islam.
20:38 April 13, 2012 by Sven the banana
Hopefully the revolutions in the arab world will be truly islamic. Then all the islamists in europe can move back to where they belong! Europe can take all the intellectuals as refugees.
01:04 April 14, 2012 by Uncle
Sven the banana

Not a chance. Sharia will cause flow of millions out of these buckets of feces that produced nothing relatively unharmful, but awful ringtones, oily shawarmas and people who call you "kompis" when they are about to screw you, that call themselves countries.

Not letting these precious diamonds of success in, will cause uprising of the left in Europe that will claim "bigotry and xenophobia" and will allow every Jihad Ibn Mahmud to bring the entire range of his family. This in turn will deepen the problems, because they SERIOUSLY do not realize that their doctor degrees are equal to the education of a high school student in Europe and there are simply ENOUGH kebab houses in Europe. Frustration due to lack of jobs will lead to further islamisation and all the peace loving acts that come out of it.

So the more sharia is created in this wolrd, the more people will arrive here, parallely blaming Europeans in their misfortunes.
08:08 April 16, 2012 by Reason abd Realism
Perhaps a plea bargain can be arranged, where, instead of life in prison without parole (which they more than deserve, but which is sort of boring and very expensive), the judge could offer to provide them with the martyrdom they wanted, by driving a boat out into international waters and throwing them overboard.
ADD YOUR COMMENT   (YOU MUST LOG IN OR REGISTER TO MAKE A COMMENT)
Today's headlines
EU probes SAS airline over state aid

EU probes SAS airline over state aid

The European Commission opened an in-depth probe on Wednesday to see if state aid given to Scandinavian Airlines by Sweden and Denmark conformed to EU rules. READ () »

Fashion Fix
Jeepers creepers, your shoes hurt my peepers

Jeepers creepers, your shoes hurt my peepers

In The Local's new Fashion Fix column on Swedish trends, Englishwoman Victoria Hussey gets up close and personal with shoes - namely "brothel creepers" from WWII that have been making a steady return to Stockholm pavements. READ () »

Frozen raspberries could spread vomiting bug

Frozen raspberries could spread vomiting bug

Imported frozen raspberries should be boiled before eaten according to new advice from Sweden's National Food Agency, which warns that the berries may carry the novo virus that is more known for causing winter vomiting disease. READ () »

Body of lonely Swedish patient forgotten for days

Body of lonely Swedish patient forgotten for days

A deceased patient who had no relatives was left in a room for five days at the Örebro University Hospital before staff realized the body was still there. READ () »

Scab row as students disrupt bus strike

Scab row as students disrupt bus strike

Stockholm bus traffic was at a standstill Wednesday as drivers launched a major strike at midnight, but a group of Conservative youths disrupted the action by replacing a bus route between two of the city's major hospitals. READ () »

Tax bill for politician's ties to far-right site

Tax bill for politician's ties to far-right site

Sweden Democrat MP Kent Ekeroth has to pay tax for money sent to his bank account as donations to two far-right websites that he claims to have nothing to do with editorially. READ () »

Sweden to send 160 troops in Mali mission

Sweden to send 160 troops in Mali mission

Sweden's parliament has voted to send up to 160 troops to Mali in July in an effort to support peace and security in the west African nation. READ () »

The Local List
Top ten ways you know you've turned Swedish

Top ten ways you know you've turned Swedish

For some foreigners living in Sweden, a natural "inner Swede" can develop that often doesn't show its face until you're back home again. The Local's Patrick Reilly lists the top ten ways this inner-Swede can change your life. READ () »

More National

 

RECEIVE OUR NEWSLETTER AND ALERTS
 

 

Highlights
Elodie Pradet/The Local WikiCommons Private/Scanpix Scanpix fastighetsbyrån.se Elodie Pradet/The Local File photo: AP File photo: Scanpix Private Göran Höglund/Flickr Finest.se Scanpix Ann Törnkvist Stefan Larsson Private DoToday Scanpix, C More The Local Finest.se Facebook The Local Scanpix Ann Törnkvist/The Local Henrik Montgomery/Scanpix CDC/Wikipedia (File) kristja/sxc.hu (File) Fastighetsbyrån Swedish expats use book club to survive London Finest.se Sergei Grits Silence/WikiCommons Oliver Gee Oliver Gee Scanpix veidekke/Flickr Eddie Gee David V. Hughes

 

Latest news from The Local in Germany

More news from Germany at thelocal.de

Latest news from The Local in France

More news from France at thelocal.fr

Latest news from The Local in Norway

More news from Norway at thelocal.no

Latest news from The Local in Switzerland

More news from Switzerland at thelocal.ch

Search News


Register

Register now for:
> Free use of noticeboard
> Special discounts
> Weekly news roundup
> Unlimited use of discuss

REGISTER FOR FREE »


Blog Update: Stripes News

13 June 22:03

This weeks results..week 24/25 »

"A weekend full of surprises and LFC football. Results look like this: Div 5 Men won 4-2, K1 lost 5-0, K2 won 2-1, Vets lost 3-2, R1 lost 4-1. Korpen Ladies play Monday night and on the 26th the Div5 Men close the first half season with the last match before the summer kicks in. /LFC " READ »

The Local's new Marketplace
Find products and services that are specifically focused on English speakers living in Sweden!
FULL DETAILS
Counseling in English
Individuals & Couples - Stockholm Beth Rogerson PhD - Clinical, Marriage & Family Therapist
Click or call 08-5580 1266 now
Trade binary options
Create an account with Banc De Binary, the world’s most reputable binary options firm, and start cashing in today! You can start by practicing with our free $50,000 demo account.
www.bbinary.com
Therapy in English
Expat counsellor & talk therapist offers counselling for stress, relationship issues, sexuality, culture adjustment & life coaching. Private & confidential. Stockholm or Skype. Contact me today! 08-559 22 636 or
CLICK HERE