The trial of four men charged with planning a terrorist attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in central Copenhagen, in retaliation for the Mohammed cartoons, got underway in a Glostrup courtroom, Friday.
The four men of Middle East origin, but residents of Sweden, were allegedly just hours away from carrying out the attack when police swooped on their Copenhagen hideaway shortly before New Year, 2010. Three of the men had been closely monitored by Swedish (SÄPO) and Danish Inelligence (PET) as they entered Denmark via the bridge from Sweden and the fourth was arrested later in Stockholm.
According to the prosecution, the men were armed with a machine gun, a 9mm pistol, 122 bullets, and plastic strips to be used as handcuffs. After the arrests they were characterised by PET boss Jakob Scharf as 'militant Islamists' with possible links to convicted US terrorist David Headley, who had visited Denmark on a number of occasions on reconnaissance missions.
A British newspaper has also linked them to to two men from Derby who were allegedly part of an al-Qaeda cell killed by US drone missiles last year. Electronic surveillance has revealed the four men were inspired by the Mumbai atrocity in 2008.
Although one of the accused, 'SZ', had originally told the police that the Mohammed cartoons 'continue to provoke Muslims to the extreme', he retracted his original statement when questioned in court today and claimed it was based solely on what the police had told him.
He acknowledged that the two weapons had been kept in his Stockholm apartment, where the other suspects had also temporarily resided, but claimed he had asked for them to be removed and had no idea they were in the car when they set off for Copenhagen.
He repeatedly testified that he knew nothing about any attack and was on his way to Gothenberg to find work. The case continues