Suitcase Bombing Trial
December 18, 2007
Lebanese national Jihad H. received a sentence of 12 years imprisonment on Tuesday, Dec. 18, for his involvement in the July 2006 bomb plot. Youssef D., on trial in absentia, had been sentenced to death but the judgment was reduced to life.
Three other suspects on trial in the case were found not guilty and released.
Meanwhile the trial of Youssef Mohammed E.H., an alleged co-conspirator in the case, began Tuesday in the German city of Düsseldorf. Defense lawyers are expected to focus on why the devices didn't explode. The 23-year-old could face life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors claim the defendant wanted to create explosions similar to the deadly train bombings in London and Madrid.
"A detonation would have in both cases led to a significant wave of pressure," prosecutors said in court documents. "Lighter fluid in the 'bomb trolleys' could have set off a fireball."
While E.H. has refused to speak to police about his involvement in the bombing attempt, H., 22, has said the two were seeking revenge for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers.
Suspect returned to Germany
Surveillance videos in the Cologne train station showed two men placing heaving suitcases onto trains.
According to the 40-page indictment, E.H., wearing a German soccer jersey, rode the train a short distance before abandoning the suitcase bomb. After getting off the train, he headed immediately for the airport, where he flew to Turkey.
Yet a week later, he returned to the northern city of Kiel where he was studying, according to the report. Prosecutors say that after pictures of him appeared in German newspapers, he called his father in Lebanon for advice. His father advised him to leave the country immediately.
The phone was tapped, and German authorities arrested the alleged bomber as he arrived at the Kiel train station.
Five days later, H. turned himself in to police in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.
Terrorist Threat Continues
The defense lawyer in Düsseldorf is expected to argue that his client never meant for the suitcases to explode. The plot was discovered when train employees opened one of the suitcases which had been turned over to lost and found.
"We see the key issue as being: Why did the charges not explode?" said Bernd Rosenkranz, the Hamburg-based defense lawyer, according to DPA news service. "Maybe they were never meant to explode."
Prosecutors are expected to argue that the two men were part of a larger Islamic conspiracy.
Authorities have warned that Germany remains a target for Islamic extremists.
Some politicians have cited the bombing attempt as a wake-up call about the terrorist threat in Germany. There have been calls for additional monitoring of terrorism suspects.
In September, three men were arrested in southern Germany for allegedly plotting to bomb United States and Uzbek targets. A fourth suspect was arrested in Turkey. Prosecutors say the men are part of the Islamic Jihad Union, a group with roots in Uzbekistan.
German law and Germany's press codex attempt to protect the privacy of suspected and convicted criminals by only allowing publication of their first names and the first initial of their surnames. DW-WORLD.DE adheres to this practice.