Terror: Algerian Jailed in Germany for Supporting ISIS

A German court has sentenced an Algerian man to a year and nine months in prison for supporting the Islamic State group and for attempting to recruit and smuggle a would-be jihadist fighter to terror hotbeds in Syria.

The Berlin district court said it convicted the 32-year-old, identified only as Fayssal M.B., for supporting a terrorist organization.

Following the deadly attacks that rocked Germany, the federal government has enhanced its security and anti-terror laws. German officials have also revised and tightened the country’s surveillance laws, while counter-terrorism measures were expanded.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has primary jurisdiction for domestic security and combating terrorism, while intelligence work is divided between the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND).

In another development, German media reported that  Germany’s most well-known jihadist, Denis Cuspert, has been killed in Syria. The death of the former Berlin rapper, known in jihadist circles as “the German,” was reported by SITE intelligence group.

Cuspert, who used to go by the stage name “Deso Dogg”, was previously reported killed by a US airstrike in Syria in 2015, before the Pentagon backtracked and said he was only wounded.

Cuspert had often called for terror attacks in Europe and appeared to be a recruiter of German-speaking Islamic extremists, sometimes through violent videos.

After pursuing a rap career for several years, around 2009, Cuspert renounced music after converting to Islam and turned into ISIS propagandist. In 2012, Cuspert went to Egypt and later disappeared in Syria, where he initially joined the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front before declaring allegiance to Daech in 2014.