Mild sentence

Accused (19) met Swift assassin in mosque

(Bild: SP, Krone KREATIV)

Austrian Swift fans were deeply saddened last August when three of the singer's concerts were canceled - a 20-year-old had allegedly planned a terrorist attack. One of his acquaintances was now in court in Vienna. The 19-year-old was also a member of IS. "I found a few things logical", he admitted on Monday - and received a lenient sentence.

As a child, the Iraqi came to Austria with his family, attended school here and completed an education - he is then alleged to have sympathized with IS from at least August 2023, according to the indictment against a 19-year-old in the Vienna Regional Court. "He covered the whole spectrum," said the public prosecutor. He posted pictures and videos with propaganda on social networks, and later also swore allegiance to a leader of the terrorist militia. 

"This is extremely dangerous behavior"
"The IS relies on people like this. You can also see that with the alleged Swift attacker. IS is counting on such people to become radicalized. This is extremely dangerous behavior," the prosecutor continued. In the course of his radicalization, the young Iraqi had also met Beran A. In August 2024, the 20-year-old planned a terrorist attack on one of the planned concerts by world-famous singer Taylor Swift - the three major events in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium were subsequently canceled. 

Also child abuse depictions on the cell phone
The public prosecutor's investigation did not reveal that the Swift assassin's acquaintance who has now been charged knew about the terror plans. He is "only" accused of membership of a terrorist group and criminal organization. However, this is not the only thing that the analysis of the 19-year-old's cell phone revealed: 200 child abuse images were also found. "That will probably be the subject of separate proceedings. It's a pretty devastating overall picture," said the public prosecutor.

Defense lawyer Andreas Reichenbach tries to put this into perspective: "The warning signals that the public prosecutor is talking about are not warning signals for me." The lawyer speaks of a good background in Austria, explaining that his mother and sister are also westernized and do not wear headscarves. "He was blinded by IS. Young people in particular are unfortunately susceptible to this."

"I found a few things logical"
The 19-year-old explained to the jury that he had wanted to know what kind of people had taken over his home country - Iraq: "I wanted to find out about a second side of things. Not just through the media." His source of choice: TikTok. "I found a few things logical." For example, he talks about concealment. Why did he post the pledge of allegiance? "I don't know, but I just did it."

He met Beran A. - the alleged Swift assassin - in a mosque in Vienna around last June. "How often did you meet in person?" the prosecutor wants to know - "Once - maybe twice." He would not have known anything about the attack plans. 

Partial imprisonment and deradicalization programme
After a brief deliberation, the panel of lay judges reaches a verdict: 24 months of partial imprisonment - six of which will be served in prison. The pre-trial detention from mid-August 2024 will count towards the sentence. This means that he has already served the entire unconditional part of his sentence in Josefstadt prison. As both he and the public prosecutor's office accept the sentence, he will be released after the trial. He will also have to undergo a deradicalization programme.