Location Copenhagen, Denmark Attack type "Mumbai-style" Deaths 0 | Date 29 December 2010 Weapons machine guns | |
Target Jyllands-Posten, Copenhagen | ||
The 2010 Copenhagen terror plot was a terrorist plot against Jyllands-Posten, the publisher of the controversial cartoons of Muhammad in 2005.
Contents
Background
In December the most serious terror operation ever uncovered in Denmark before the 2015 Copenhagen shootings was thwarted by a successful cooperation between security services in Denmark and Sweden. Police, accompanied by bomb experts, conducted several raids and detained five men, who are described as militant islamists. Automatic weapons, together with ammunition and silencers, were seized by the police. Plastic strips to use as handcuffs were also found.
The terrorists alledegly plotted to conduct a "Mumbai-style" attack on Jyllands-Posten to revenge the 2005 publishing of the cartoons portraying Muhammad as a terrorist. Detailed information has been withheld due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Suspects
The five suspects, between 26 and 44 years old, were of Tunisian, Lebanese and Iraqi origins. Four of them are Swedish citizens, the fifth was an Iraqi seeking asylum in Denmark.
Detainees:
Munir Awad was previously been arrested in Pakistan in 2009 on suspicions of terrorism, together with Mehdi Ghezali, a former Guantanamo-detainee. Notably, Munir Awad is the son-in-law of Helena Benaouda, head of the Muslim Council of Sweden. This led some Swedish newspaper editors to question Benaouda's role as head of one of the country's largest Muslim organization. The suspects' various ties to the Stockholm Grand Mosque also stirred up some media attention.
Sahbi Zalouti has also been previously arrested in Pakistan in 2009 on suspicions of terrorism, roughly at the same time as Munir Awad though not together.
Investigation
The suspects had been under surveillance for an extended period of time and the arrests were the result of a long investigation.
Charges
The men are charged with attempted terrorism and unlawful possession of weapons (a machine gun with silencer, a pistol and more than 100 cartridges). 4 June 2012 the four named above were convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Reactions
Abd al Haqq Kielan, imam at the Sabirin Mosque in Eskilstuna said in an interview that "These people do things that are explicitly forbidden in Islam. They make our religion to appear cruel and brutal." The imam also said that "the prophet is very clear on this: A muslim must not be unloyal to the country one lives in, much less the country that received you, given you a visa, residence permit and protection when one most need it."