SCHLESWIG, Germany - A Jordanian confessed in a plea agreement to co-founding a terrorist group, telling a court as his trial opened Wednesday that he participated in online discussions about setting up a training camp in Sudan.
Thaer Alhalah, 33, told the Schleswig-Holstein state court he had contact with other group members through online chat groups and telephone calls starting in April 2006. Asked when the plans to start a camp in Sudan took form, Alhalah said: "They just developed." Speaking in Arabic through a translator, he told the court that jihad, or holy war, "for a Muslim is self defense." "If someone attacks my country or my belongings with violence, I am ready to defend my country and my belongings with weapons," he said.
The confession to charges of founding a terrorist organization abroad was part of a plea deal that means Alhalah will be sentenced at most to two years in prison, compared to the legal maximum of up to 10 years. With the time he has already served while awaiting trial and German laws requiring only a percentage of a sentence be served, he will most likely be freed and sent back to Jordan in April, prosecutors said.
Excerpted
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_on_re_eu/germany_terror_trial
“...he had contact with other group members through online chat groups and telephone calls...”
Global jihad/gwot — another day.
Thank you Oorang for that update.