A Danish court has sentenced 29-year-old Adam Touhou to six years in prison and to be stripped of his citizenship followed by deportation for recruiting for the Islamic State terror group.
Touhou began speaking with Hafed Matoussi on Facebook in 2013 about the Islamic State, eventually urging the now 30-year-old to travel to Syria to join the terror group.
The Copenhagen District Court decided on Friday to sentence Touhou to six years in prison, as well as stripping him of his citizenship and permanently expelling him from Denmark. Touhou’s lawyer has already appealed the verdict.
According to a report from the Danish newspaper Berlingske, Matoussi had been sentenced to three years in 2018 for his connections to the Islamic State. He was later deported, despite the fact Matoussi had been born in Denmark.
Matoussi, who was also a citizen of Tunisia, was allegedly trained in bomb-making and weapons use in Syria when he spent two weeks with the Islamic State in September 2013.
The 30-year-old had claimed he was handing out emergency aid, but prosecutors had brought up social media messages to a friend in which he stated: “If I died, I would have been a martyr. It’s the best reward you can get.”
Radical Islamic extremism remains a threat in Denmark, with an alleged terror attack foiled earlier this year that saw Danish and German police arrest 14 people attempting to acquire weapons and bomb-making materials.
Officials found during the raid an Islamic State flag, shotguns, and a hunting rifle. Investigators said the exact target was not known but was likely in either Denmark or Germany.
In April, the Danish government also announced that migrants convicted of serious crimes would be denied a path to citizenship. Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration Mattias Tesfaye stated: “We want to make sure that those who receive Danish citizenship have settled well in Danish society and has embraced Denmark — including Danish values.”