4 jailed for 12 years over Danish newspaper attack plot

A Danish court on Monday sentenced four men to 12 years behind bars for committing “terrorism” with a plot to kill the staff of a newspaper that first published blasphemous cartoons.
The three Swedish nationals and one Tunisian living in Sweden had pleaded not guilty to the terrorism charges, but in a unanimous verdict a district court convicted all four. However, Sahbi Ben Mohamed Zalouti, Munir Awad and Omar Abdalla Aboelazm — Swedish citizens of Tunisian, Lebanese and Moroccan origin, respectively — and Tunisian national Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri were found not guilty of a secondary charge of weapons possession due to a technicality, chief judge Katrine Eriksen said.
Prosecutors had charged that the four planned to “kill a large number of people” at the offices of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Copenhagen when they were arrested on December 29, 2010. Prosecutor Gyrithe Ulrich insisted to Jyllands-Posten on Monday that “this case is different from other cases and should result in a stricter penalty. “They were close to carrying out (the attack). This was not just initial preparations as we have seen in other cases,” she said. “In this case we were very close.”
But the court in the Copenhagen suburb of Glostrup opted instead Monday to hand the four 12 years behind bars, on a par with two other sentences handed down to date in cases involving terrorism plots. Both sides have 14 days to appeal the verdict and sentencing. “We are very satisfied with the result of 12 years,” Ulrich said after the sentencing, adding that she had yet to decide whether to appeal.
A machinegun with a silencer, a revolver, 108 bullets, 200 plastic handcuff strips and $20,000 (16,000 euros) were among the items found in the men’s possession when they were arrested after three of them drove to the Danish capital from Sweden.