Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

TRIAL

Bielefeld man given six-month jail term for “cheeky Jewish functionary” slur

The head of a far-right organization in the western town of Bielefeld was sentenced to half a year in prison on Thursday for calling someone a “cheeky Jewish functionary.”

Published: 23 February 2018 16:07 CET
Bielefeld man given six-month jail term for “cheeky Jewish functionary” slur
Photo: DPA

The Bielefeld district court sentenced 30-year-old Sascha Krolzig on a charge of hate crime, the Neue Westfälische Zeitung reported on Friday.

Prosecutors said that he had fallen foul of the law by calling Matitjahu Kellig, the head of Jewish community in Detmold, a “frecher Judenfunktionär” (cheeky Jewish functionary) in an online post.

Due to the phrase’s associations with Nazi ideology it constituted a form of hate speech, with the central message being that Jews could not be a part of German society, prosecutors argued.

Krolzig admitted to writing the words but said that their use should be protected by the right to freedom of expression.

The judge sided with the prosecutors and also rejected the possibility of probation due to the fact that Krolzig is still on probation for a conviction from 2015.

Krolzig’s lawyer said that he planned to appeal the verdict.

TRIAL

Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists

Three leaders of an Iranian Arab separatist group pleaded not guilty to financing and promoting terrorism in Iran with Saudi Arabia's backing, as their trial opened in Denmark on Thursday.

Published: 30 April 2021 08:09 CEST
Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists
File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The three risk 12 years in prison if found guilty.

Aged 39 to 50, the trio are members of the separatist organisation ASMLA (Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz), which is based in Denmark and the Netherlands and which Iran considers a terrorist group.

The three, one of whom is a Danish citizen, have been held in custody in Denmark since February 2020.

Gert Dyrn, lawyer for the eldest of the three, told AFP that in his client’s opinion “what they are charged with is legitimate resistance towards an oppressive regime.”

“They are not denying receiving money from multiple sources, including Saudi Arabia, to help the movement and help them accomplish their political aim,” Dyrn said. 

His client has lived as a refugee in Denmark since 2006. 

According to the charge sheet seen by AFP, the three received around 30 million kroner (four million euros, $4.9 million) for ASMLA and its armed branch, through bank accounts in Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

The trio is also accused of spying on people and organisations in Denmark between 2012 and 2020 for Saudi intelligence.

Finally, they are also accused of promoting terrorism and “encouraging the activities of the terrorist movement Jaish Al-Adl, which has activities in Iran, by supporting them with advice, promotion, and coordinating attacks.”

The case dates back to 2018 when one of the three was the target of a foiled attack on Danish soil believed to be sponsored by the Iranian regime in retaliation for the killing of 24 people in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, in September 2018.

READ ALSO:

Tehran formally denied the attack plan in Denmark, but a Danish court last year jailed a Norwegian-Iranian for seven years for his role in the plot. 

That attack put Danish authorities on the trail of the trio’s ASMLA activities.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is the main rival in the Middle East of Shia Iran, and Tehran regularly accuses it, along with Israel and the United States, of supporting separatist groups.

Lawyer Gert Dyrn said this was “the first case in Denmark within terror law where you have to consider who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.”

SHOW COMMENTS