Munich: Eight accused of spreading online Islamist propaganda

Munich: Eight accused of spreading online Islamist propaganda

Via Deutsche Welle:
A trial of eight people accused of spreading Islamist propaganda over the Internet opened in Munich on Tuesday. Prosecutors say the defendents used Internet forums and blogs to call for a holy war.

Seven men and one woman are accused of inciting terrorism and releasing brutal videos of bombings and beheadings as part of the German section of a group known as the "Global Islamic Media Front."

According to the federal prosecutor, the suspects published German translations of Al-Qaeda propaganda material as well as their own material on the Internet between August 2006 and March 2008, in order to attract new members and support for terrorist organizations abroad.

The defendants are now all between 18 and 30 years old, but some of them were minors at the time. Most had never met before the trial, relying on the Internet to communicate from their homes across Germany.

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