alleged Islamic State jihadist accused of
scoping out potential targets for an attack
in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate
and Reichstag building, goes on trial in
Germany on Wednesday.
It will be the country's first trial of a suspected
IS militant deployed to Germany from Syria
during the chaotic 2015 refugee influx -- in
contrast to "lone wolf" attacks or plots by
extremists who were radicalised elsewhere.
The defendant, identified only as 19-year-old
Syrian national Shaas Al-M., allegedly fought
with the Islamist militia in his war-torn
homeland for two years before arriving in
Germany as a refugee in August 2015.
He will stand trial in a special state security
court in Berlin on charges of membership of a
foreign terrorist organisation, which carries up to
10 years in jail, and military weapons law
violations.
The trial will be held under tight security, coming
just over two weeks after an IS extremist from
Tunisia ploughed a truck through a Berlin
Christmas market in an attack that killed 12
people.
'Attack targets'
Prosecutors claim the defendant joined the
jihadist group as a teenager in mid-2013, taking
part in combat operations, handling an AK-47
assault rifle and supplying food to fighters.
He arrived in Germany near the peak of a mass
influx of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and other
crisis-torn countries that brought almost
900,000 asylum seekers to Europe's biggest
economy in 2015.
He allegedly stayed in "close contact" with IS
and repeatedly visited the German capital until
February 2016 to scout out landmark targets and
busy tourist sites for an attack.
Among the suspected targets were the area
around the glass-domed Reichstag building that
houses the lower house of parliament, the nearby
Brandenburg Gate monument and the busy
shopping square Alexanderplatz.
He then allegedly " passed the information
about the potential attack targets onto his
contacts at the IS ", said the court in a
statement.
"In addition, he arranged to send at least one
person to Syria as a fighter and offered his
services as a contact person for potential
attackers in Germany," it added.
The young Syrian was arrested on March 22 last
year and has been in pre-trial detention since.
The court has set 25 hearings until April.
Truck rampage
Germany has been shocked by a spate of IS-
claimed attacks, and some foiled plots, that a
growing right-wing populist movement has
blamed on the open-door refugee policy of
Chancellor Angela Merkel .
In some cases last year, the jihadists were
home-grown, while others were migrants and
refugees.
More attacks are feared when some of the 400-
odd German jihadists still in Syria and Iraq return
home.
In June last year, police arrested three Syrian
men over an alleged plan to use guns and
suicide vests in an IS attack in Duesseldorf.
In July, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee wounded
five people in an axe rampage on a train before
police shot him dead.
Days later a 27-year-old Syrian blew himself up
outside a music festival, wounding 15 people.
In October, police say they prevented an attack
on a Berlin airport by a Syrian refugee, 22-year-
old Jaber al-Bakr.
Al-Bakr evaded a police raid but was caught by
Syrian compatriots soon after and handed over
to police. Two days later, he was found hanged
in his cell, sparking a scandal over the security
lapse in custody.
December saw the worst IS-claimed attack when
Tunisian Anis Amri, 24, drove a hijacked truck
into a packed Berlin Christmas market.
He killed 12 people, including the lorry's
registered Polish driver, and was shot dead four
days later in Italy after firing first at police there.
Germany's domestic security service estimates
that the number of radical Islamists in Germany
rose above 9,000 last year, from some 3,800 in
2011.
About 550 of them are considered dangerous and
capable of a violent attack.
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