Bosnia Suicide Bomb Plotters Found Guilty (UPDATED)
By Evan Kohlmann
(*UPDATE*) News of the conviction has been officially confirmed by the Bosnian court.
According to eyewitness reports from Sarajevo, the Supreme Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina has found three defendants--Mirsad Bektašević, Abdulkadir Cesur and Bajro Ikanović--guilty on terrorism charges in a landmark case involving jihadists from across the European continent. The defendants had purchased explosives from a local source in Bosnia and allegedly planned to carry out suicide attacks against Western targets across Europe. The leader of the cell, Swedish national Mirsad Bektašević (a.k.a. “Maximus”) was initially based in Sweden and then traveled on to Bosnia “to plan an attack aimed at forcing Bosnia or another government to withdraw forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.” In a videotape recovered by Bosnian police, masked militants were shown building explosives while another individual—allegedly Bektašević himself—explained to the camera, “This weapon will be used against Europe, against those whose forces are in Iraq and Afghanistan… These two brothers ... have given their lives to God to help their brothers and sisters. We are here and we are planning and we have got everything ready.” Mobile phone records also showed that Bektašević was communicating with other known extremists based in Denmark and the United Kingdom. He was also believed to be running a recruitment operation sending young European jihadi recruits on to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Moreover, at least one of the suspects arrested in Bosnia-Herzegovina in connection with the Bektašević network was the former accountant of a financial front company run by veterans of the El-Mudzahedin Unit in Sarajevo and Zenica.
Bektašević has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison, while Abdulkadir Cesur received a sentence of thirteen years. Over the course of the expansive case, the Bosnian Supreme Court trial panel has held a total of 22 hearings, lasting over 88 hours.
See also: - Indictment filed against Bektašević, Cesur, and Ikanović
(CATS Paper, 2006) - "The Afghan-Bosnian Mujahideen Network in Europe"
- Newsweek: Online Face of Terror
