By Country / Iraq
German Court Sentences Iraqi For Aiding Militants
January 12, 2006
12 January 2006 -- A German court has sentenced an Iraqi to seven years in prison for aiding militants in his home country.
Amin Lokman Mohamed was convicted of recruiting militants in Europe and of raising funds for Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic group that operates out of northern Iraq and that is thought to have links to Al-Qaeda.
Mohamed, who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker in 2000, was arrested in Munich in 2003.
The case is being seen as a test of Germany's anti-terrorism legislation. German law now makes it a crime to be a member of a terrorist organization, removing the need for the police to prove that the accused personally committed a murder or other felony.
(AP, dpa)