‘Faceless preacher’ on trial as Isil’s chief recruiter in Germany
A RADICAL Islamic preacher believed to be the chief recruiter for Isil in Germany went on trial yesterday, accused of running a jihadist network linked to the Berlin Christmas market attacker.
Nicknamed the “faceless preacher” for turning his back to the camera in propaganda videos, Abu Walaa, aged 33 and from Iraq, appeared before the supreme court in the northern German town of Celle, near Hanover, as policemen with machine guns and guards patrolled the building.
Four co-defendants, also accused of supporting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, are standing trial alongside Walaa, identified as Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A in court documents.
The terror trial is expected to run until at least January next year and take place amid continued heavy security. All of the defendants have chosen to remain silent throughout the process. The five men created a “pan-regional Salafist-jihadist network” in which Walaa “took on the leading role as the representative of the so-called Islamic State in Germany,” prosecutors said in their indictment. “The goal of the network was to send people to IS in Syria or Iraq.”
Walaa was arrested last November on accusations of recruiting at least 16 young men for Isil, six of whom reportedly died on battlefields in Syria and Iraq.
Two of his recruits are believed to have killed more than 150 Iraqi soldiers in suicide bombings, prosecutors said.
In addition to recruiting, Walaa and his associates also allegedly provided young jihadists with logistical and financial support for their journey to the Middle East.
Walaa faces charges of funding terrorism and having direct contacts in Isil leadership circles, the indictment said. If found guilty the five men face up to 10 years in prison.
The trial is likely to be closely watched in Germany, as Walaa has been linked to some of the country’s most high-profile jihadist attacks in the last 10 years, including speaking at a Berlin mosque that was frequented by Anis Amri, the attacker who drove a truck through a crowded Christmas market last December, killing 12 people.
His “students” also allegedly included three teenage boys who detonated a homemade bomb at an Indian wedding in Germany last year, according to German media.