A 21-year-old Austrian man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday for plotting a foiled jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert, after admitting his role before an Austrian court.
Read more: Suspect Sentenced to 15 Years for Plotting Foiled Jihadist Attack at Taylor Swift ConcertThe planned attack led authorities to cancel three Vienna shows of Swift’s record-breaking “Eras” tour in summer 2024, following warnings about the plot by the so-called Islamic State group (IS).
After hours of deliberation, a jury found Austrian national Beran A. guilty of planning the attack and forming an IS cell. The presiding judge handed down the 15-year sentence as Beran, visibly shaken and emotional, listened to the verdict.
Beran A., who was arrested the day before the cancelled concerts and has been in custody since, stood trial last month on terrorism and related charges in Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna. He pleaded guilty to all counts except being an accomplice to attempted murder. He faced up to 20 years in prison.
A second defendant, 21-year-old Arda K., tried alongside Beran A., received a 12-year sentence. Both sentences are subject to appeal. In their closing statements, both men apologized in court, with Beran A. stating, I just want to say that I’m sorry.”
During his testimony last month, Beran A. said he had become convinced he “had to wage jihad” but admitted he was “afraid to die.” He selected Vienna’s crowded Ernst Happel Stadium during Swift’s concert as a target, detailing to the court how he obtained bomb-making instructions and attempted, unsuccessfully, to construct an explosive device. He also sought advice on weapon selection in online chat groups, including from a senior IS member.
Prosecutors accused Beran A. and Arda K., along with a third Austrian, Hasan E., of forming a “highly dangerous IS terror cell” intent on carrying out attacks, mainly abroad, in IS’s name. Hasan E. is currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for allegedly stabbing a security official in Mecca in 2024 and injuring four others.
Beran A.’s defense argued there was no evidence he encouraged Hasan E. to commit the stabbing, emphasizing that Beran was neither a leader nor an ideological mastermind. However, prosecutors insisted the jury had an opportunity to “send a clear signal” that those who commit such crimes would be held accountable, noting Beran A.’s regular contact with Hasan E. and his dissemination of IS propaganda.
The Taylor Swift concert plot was ultimately thwarted with help from US intelligence. In a social media post, Swift later shared that the cancellations left her with “a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows.”
Separately, a Berlin court last year convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the Vienna concert plot, sentencing the 16-year-old to an 18-month suspended sentence.
Source: AFP
