Prosecutor accuses student of spreading Jihad propaganda in Germany

Nov 7, 2011, 18:06 GMT

Koblenz, Germany - Prosecutors on Monday accused a Muslim blogger in Germany of helping web users discover grisly al-Qaeda execution videos as he went on trial in the German city of Koblenz on charges of supporting a terrorist group.

'He was the main Jihad propagandist in Germany' between 2007 and 2009, prosecutor Michael Bruns told the state superior court.

The 25-year-old student, who was born in Syria but has lived in Germany since 1990, wrote an Islamist blog and ran a web forum, Bruns said. The man, whose name is being withheld under German media privacy guidelines, declined to testify. The trial is expected to last several months.

Christoph Clanget, the defence lawyer, told the court his client was 'not ideologically warped.'

'We believe that what he did never happened on the scale which is being alleged,' Clanget said

'He intended to promote global jihad,' responded prosecutor Bruns, alleging that the accused obtained German translations of al-Qaeda podcasts and videocasts and put them on his website or linked to them.

One video, for example, showed a US hostage being beheaded. Spreading execution videos showed the accused was not just trying to recruit young Muslims but also to spread terror into German homes, Bruns argued.

The accused has been in custody since July last year. If found guilty, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.