Jihad recruiter sentenced to 20 years in Austria

From the Austrian edition of The Local

A Muslim preacher at the centre of an Austrian jihad propaganda network was sentenced to 20 years in jail on Wednesday for recruiting young fighters to the Islamic State group.

A court in the southern city of Graz found the preacher, who goes by the name of Ebu Tejma, guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation and of inciting terrorist attacks following a trial that has been running since February. The 34-year-old “brainwashed” dozens of people aged between 14 and 30, according to the public prosecutor, and recruited a number of them to fight for the jihadist organisation in Syria. 

Tejma fled from Bosnia to Vienna following the break-up of Yugoslavia and preached in various Austrian and southern German cities, becoming a “key figure” in pushing IS propaganda, the prosecution said. He was arrested during a far-reaching crackdown on Austrian jihadist networks in 2014 and denies the charges against him. 

A second accused was sentenced to 10 years for his involvement in recruiting fighters, as well as taking part in IS attacks in Syria.