German Islamist – Faith Matters https://www.faith-matters.org Working with Faith Communities Countering Extremism, Supporting Integration & Challenging Hatred. Founded by Fiyaz Mughal Thu, 27 Jul 2017 01:34:44 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://www.faith-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/favicon.png German Islamist – Faith Matters https://www.faith-matters.org 32 32 95725945 German Islamist preacher sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison https://www.faith-matters.org/german-islamist-preacher-sentenced-five-half-years-prison/ Thu, 27 Jul 2017 01:34:44 +0000 https://www.faith-matters.org/?p=6841

FILE PHOTO: Salafist preacher Sven Lau appears behind a bullet-proof window at a high-security courtroom in Duesseldorf, Germany April 25, 2017. 

A German Islamist preacher was sentenced on Wednesday to 5-1/2 years in prison on four counts of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation.

Prosecutors said Sven Lau served as an “extended arm” of the Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, an insurgent group made up of around 1,500 Chechen, Uzbek and Tajik fighters, which in 2015 pledged allegiance to the Nusra Front, then an al Qaeda affiliate. They said he collected funds and recruited fighters for the group, which is listed as a terrorist organisation in Germany.

Lau, a hardline Muslim preacher from Germany’s western state of North-Rhine Westphalia, had also turned up in the city of Wuppertal with nine supporters in tow, all wearing orange vests emblazoned with the words ‘Sharia Police’.

Prosecutors said this was an illegal gathering as he and eight others were trying to recruit others to join them.

Prosecutors had called for a 6-1/2 year prison sentence for Lau, while the defence had pleaded for an acquittal.

FILE PHOTO: Islamist preacher Sven Lau delivers a speech during a pro-Islam demonstration in Cologne, Germany June 9, 2012. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender/File Photo
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