Bulgaria adds three Syrians accused of terrorism to anti-terrorism financing list
Bulgaria’s Cabinet has added three Syrians that prosecutors have accused of terrorism to the country’s list of people subject to restrictions under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The Cabinet decision was taken on August 3, a day after the three Syrians appeared in Bulgaria’s Special Criminal Court.
Prosecutors allege that the three, Almohammad Abdulhamid, Al Abdahah Fadi and Al Fahdi Yassim, aged 20, 22 and 25.who had obtained refugee status in Germany, had sought to travel via Greece and Turkey to Syria to join the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood and the “Islamic State of Iraq and Levant” (ISIL).
In February 2016, the three had arrived in Greece from Germany and had attempted to cross into Turkey but were not allowed to. Since they could not reach Turkey via the Greek-Turkish border, they had decided to pass through Bulgarian territory on the way to Turkey.
The accused travelled by bus from Alexandropoli to Plovdiv, and on to Sofia. After staying at a hotel in the Bulgarian capital, they boarded a train from Sofia to Edirne in Turkey. At Bulgaria’s border town of Svilengrad, they attempted an illegal crossing into Turkey but were caught by Bulgarian Border Police.
On the basis of evidence found through forensic examination of their mobile phones, and on the statements given by eight witnesses, the three were charged with terrorism, including terrorism against a foreign state.
On August 2, their trial was adjourned to September 19 2016 after the accused, who deny wrongdoing, asked to be given a copy of the indictment and all the evidence in the case translated into Arabic.
Bulgaria’s anti-terrorism law provides for blocking funding, assets and economic resources for individuals, legal persons, groups and entities prosecuted for terrorism or financing terrorism, recruitment or training of individuals or groups of people to commit terrorism, or crossing a state border or residing illegally with the intent to participate in terrorism.
(Photo: (c) Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
