Austrian recruiter for Syria extremism jailed

VIENNA: An Austrian man under whose inluence two couples went to Syria to join the Daesh group taking their nine children with them was on Wednesday jailed for eight years.

The 38-year-old was convicted of recruiting for Daesh while a 24-year-old Bulgarian was given seven years after being found in possession of plans for terrorist attacks.

Prosecutors said the older man played “a central ideological role” in a radical religious grouping and had convinced several people to travel to Syria to join Daesh.

Among those who prosecutors said left under his inluence were two sets of parents who took their nine children to Syria. They subsequently returned to Austria and were themselves convicted.

The younger man convicted on Wednesday had himself originally gone to Syria before returning in 2015.

A raid at his home revealed a USB stick containing instructions on how to use explosives and chemical weapons, including how to detonate devices using a mobile phone.

Around 300 people have either left or been intercepted trying to leave Austria to ight in Syria or Iraq since 2011, according to the interior ministry. Some 50 have died there while around 100 have come back.

SYRIAN-AMERICAN

Syrian opposition groups say authorities have informed the family of a Syrian-american woman detained two years ago that she died in custody shortly afterward. The Syrian National Coalition said Thursday that Leila Shuweikani died shortly after being detained in 2016 and that she was tortured.