Vienna - Court proceedings in the trial against the alleged producers of an al-Qaeda-promoting threat video, billed Austria's first case of Islamist terrorism, were adjourned on Thursday until March 12. Two defendants, Mohamed M. and his wife Mona S., aged 22 and 21, face charges of membership in a terrorist organization, having allegedly planned bomb attacks in Austria during the upcoming European football tournament and against European politicians, and producing an Islamist threat video distributed on the internet.
Prosecutors have accused the two second-generation migrants of a Middle Eastern background of membership of the al-Qaeda terrorist network and of spreading terrorist ideology and goals in the German- speaking world.
Mohamed M. denied all charges and told the court that he played a key role in the release of Hannelore Krause, a German citizen abducted in Iraq together with her son, Sinan.
He told the jury he contacted the abductors via the Global Islamic Media Front, an internet platform where he was a member, and advised them that the abduction of women painted a bad picture of Islam. His advice was heeded shortly afterwards, the defendant said.
Hannelore Krause was released in July 2007 while her son remains in captivity.
Mona S., who aided her Muslim-law husband with translation work, was excluded from court proceedings at the start of the trial on March 3 after refusing to remove her burka, thereby flaunting Austrian trial laws.
A verdict, originally planned for Thursday, is now expected some time after the resumption of procedures on March 12. Defence counsel Lennart Binder had asked to call more witnesses and present more evidence.
