Syrian Teen Sentenced to 2-Years’ Jail for Planning ISIS Attack

A refugee shelter in Borsdorf, Saxony, Germany. (Credit Image: © Frank Schmidt/DPA via ZUMA Press)

A 16-year-old Syrian refugee was convicted in Germany Monday of planning a bomb attack on behalf of the Isis terror group and sentenced to two years’ juvenile detention.

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The teenager, who was not identified by the court, was arrested at an asylum shelter in Cologne in September and went on trial in February.

Police had said the suspect’s mobile phone showed he had been in touch with an Isis contact abroad and expressed willingness to carry out a bombing.

Investigators found online chat messages on the phone that included “concrete instructions” for building an explosive device.

However the court found that the plot was thwarted at a “very early stage”

“At no time was the public specifically in danger,” it said.

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The court found that the “particular loneliness” of his housing situation at the shelter meant that he spent most of his time on his mobile phone, making him easy prey for jihadist propaganda online.

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