Terrorism in Denmark

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Terrorism in Denmark refers to terrorist attacks carried out in Denmark or by people connected to Denmark. Like other countries Denmark increased its focus on defending against terrorist attacks after the September 11 attacks in New York in 2001. The September 11 attacks led to strengthened laws in a number of areas. 31 May 2002 the parliament of Denmark (Danish: Folketing) approved anti-terror legislation with the aim of preventing terrorism in Denmark and internationally. The new legislation aligned with the definitions of terrorism which were in use by the European Union and the United Nations. [1]

Contents

Terrorist incidents and trials

1985

1985 Copenhagen bombings - Main synagogue in Copenhagen and airline office were hit by a bomb placed by Hezbollah terrorists. While no people were injured in the attack on the synagogue, a second bomb placed by the same group destroyed the Copenhagen offices of the American Northwest Orient Airlines, killing one person and injuring 26. [2] [3] Several Arabs residing in Europe, among them Mohammed Abu Talb, were later convicted for these and other attacks.

2005

This section is an excerpt from Glostrup Terrorists Case.[ edit ]
On October 27, 2005 Danish police arrested four people in Glostrup on charges of terrorism, in connection to the arrests in Bosnia of Abdulkadir Cesur and Mirsad Bektasevic (AKA Maximus). All four had been under surveillance for a while.

2006

This section is an excerpt from Vollsmose terrorist trial.[ edit ]

The Vollsmose terrorists were three men convicted of attempted terrorism in Denmark in 2007–2008. Nine men were initially arrested by Danish police in the Vollsmose neighbourhood of Odense on 5 September 2006, but most were later released without charges, including a police mole who played a role in the investigation and trial. Four men were charged with attempted terrorism, three of whom were convicted. [4] According to Danish police, the group had been under investigation for quite a while. [5]

Lene Espersen, the Danish Minister of Justice, called the plot "the most severe ever in Denmark" and said the group were planning one or more terrorist attacks against targets in Denmark. It was later claimed that they had planned on using bombs to attack the Folketing (Danish Parliament), Jyllands-Posten (the newspaper involved in the 2005 cartoon controversy), Copenhagen's City Hall Square or another unspecified target. [4] [6] The group was motivated by Islamic extremism. [5]

2007

2007 Al Qaeda Plot in Copenhagen - Danish police officers and Security Intelligence Service agents arrested eight, six of which were released after questioning. The two remaining, described as Islamic militants with ties to Al Qaeda, were convicted in 2008 of planning terrorism with the use of bombs. [7] [8]

In 2007, Morocco-born Said Mansour was the first to be charged with the offence of inciting terrorism. [9] Material produced by him has been found by several convicted terrorists worldwide. In 2014, he was sentenced again by the Fredriksberg court to four years in jail for publishing extremist islamist material thereby supporting al-Qaeda. In 2015 the Østre Landsret upholds the sentenced and strips Mansour of his Danish citizenship and issues a deportation order. In June 2016, the supreme court upholds the deportation order. After the supreme court decision, Danish authorities negotiated with Morocco on a repatriation treaty. He was deported in January 2019. [10]

2010

2010 Copenhagen terror plot - Security services in Denmark and Sweden thwarted a terrorist plot against Jyllands-Posten, the publisher of the controversial cartoons of Muhammad in 2005. In several raids they detained five men, who were described as militant islamists. Automatic weapons, together with ammunition and silencers, were seized by the police. [11]

Hotel Jørgensen explosion - An attempted letter bomb attack by a Belgian of Chechen ethnicity.

2012

Two Somali brothers residing in Denmark were arrested in May 2012 on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack and the elder was alleged to have undergone training by Al-Shabaab. In February 2013 they were charged with financing terrorism and terrorist training. The younger brother admitted to supporting Al-Shabaab in the district court. Upon appeal, both brothers were sentenced for attempted terrorist training in the appeals court. [9]

2015

2015 Copenhagen shootings - shooting attacks in Copenhagen beginning in the afternoon of 14 February at a public event called "Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression" at Krudttønden cultural centre, followed by another at the Great Synagogue just after midnight (i.e., 15 February), and finally the killing of the perpetrator in the early morning by police. Two victims and the perpetrator were killed, while five police officers were wounded. [12]

2016

The Kundby case - a 2016 plan to bomb two schools in Denmark, including a Jewish school in Copenhagen. The girl, 15-years-old at the time of her plan and a recent convert to Islam, was convicted in 2017. [13] [14]

2016 Copenhagen terror plot - an attempted attack on Copenhagen with bombs and knives by two Syrian refugees (one living in Sweden, another in Germany) under direction of Islamic State instructions. [15]

2018

Ringsted terror plot - A Norwegian-Iranian was arrested and suspected of having planned Iranian intelligence operations in Denmark. Both Norwegian PST and Danish PET also suspected the man to take part in the planning of an assassination against the leader of the Iranian group Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz. He was arrested in Gothenburg in Sweden on 21 October. [16]

2019

Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) and police arrested around 20 people throughout Denmark 11 December 2019, 8 of which have been charged with attempted terrorism. They had bought bomb-making materials and tried (unsuccessfully) to acquire firearms. It is unknown if their target was in Denmark or abroad, but the motive was radical Islamist ideology. [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

In 2001, a network of interconnected terrorist cells in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was uncovered by law enforcement. The network had connections to al-Qaeda and was planning to commit one or more bombings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Westergaard</span> Danish cartoonist (1935–2021)

Kurt Westergaard was a Danish cartoonist. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, wearing a bomb in his turban as a part of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which triggered several assassinations and murders committed by Muslim extremists around the world, diplomatic conflicts, and state-organized riots and attacks on Western embassies with several dead in Muslim countries. After the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard received numerous death threats and was a target of assassination attempts. As a result, he was under constant police protection.

Until the late 2000s terrorism in Sweden was not seen as a serious threat to the security of the state. However, there has been a rise in far right and Islamist terrorist activity in the 21st century.

The Vollsmose terrorists were three men convicted of attempted terrorism in Denmark in 2007–2008. Nine men were initially arrested by Danish police in the Vollsmose neighbourhood of Odense on 5 September 2006, but most were later released without charges, including a police mole who played a role in the investigation and trial. Four men were charged with attempted terrorism, three of whom were convicted. According to Danish police, the group had been under investigation for quite a while.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 German train bombing attempts</span>

On 31 July 2006, two men placed two suitcases filled with bombs on regional commuter trains in Germany. Departing from the central station in Cologne, the bombs were timed to go off near Hamm or Dortmund and near Koblenz, and according to German investigators "would have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people ... on a much larger scale than the terrorist attacks on London subways and buses in July 2005." However, due to faulty construction, the bombs only failed to ignite, even as the detonators worked. According to the German prosecutor, at the time Germany had "never been closer to an Islamist attack than in this case."

Abu Bashar is a Syrian-born imam of the mosque of The Islamic Society in Denmark in Odense, Denmark. He was involved in protests against the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Muhammad and in the Vollsmose terrorist arrests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Synagogue (Copenhagen)</span>

The Great Synagogue is the main synagogue of the Jewish community in Copenhagen, Denmark. The synagogue is defined by its unique architecture around the Ark. During the first half of the 19th century, synagogues continued to be built in the classical tradition, but there began to be a revival of Greek and Roman architecture. The Great Synagogue in Copenhagen is one of a few synagogues of its period to use Egyptian elements in the columns, ceiling and cornice over the ark.

On September 4, 2007, two men who were planning a terror attack were arrested along several others by Danish police officers and Security Intelligence Service agents in several coordinated actions throughout the Greater Copenhagen area. The two men were later convicted and sentenced to twelve and seven years in prison, respectively. In Danish, it became known as the "terror case from Glasvej" after the road where the convicted ringleader had his apartment, which had been under surveillance for an extended period of time before the arrests. It is unknown if the target of the planned bombing was in Denmark or abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in the United States</span> Systematic or threatened use of violence to create a general climate of fear

In the United States, a common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence in order to create a general climate of fear to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. This article serves as a list and a compilation of acts of terrorism, attempts to commit acts of terrorism, and other such items which pertain to terrorist activities which are engaged in by non-state actors or spies who are acting in the interests of state actors or persons who are acting without the approval of foreign governments within the domestic borders of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda activities in Europe</span>

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Munir Awad is a Lebanon-born citizen of Sweden who was convicted of plotting a terrorist attack in Denmark. Munir Awad, and his fiancée were arrested in Kenya in 2007 when Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia and foreigners were detained as suspected terrorists. On December 29, 2010 Awad was arrested in Denmark and in 2012 was found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack in revenge for Jyllands-Posten's publication of Muhammad cartoons.

The 2010 Copenhagen terror plot was a terrorist plot against Jyllands-Posten, the publisher of the controversial cartoons of Muhammad in 2005.

On 22 July 1985, two bombs exploded in a terrorist attack in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the bombs exploded near the Great Synagogue and a Jewish nursing home and kindergarten, and another at the offices of Northwest Orient Airlines. At least one more bomb, planned for the El Al airline offices, was discovered. One person was killed and 26 people were injured in the attacks. Sweden-based Palestinians Abu Talb and Marten Imandi were sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden for the bombings, which were part of a series of attacks in 1985 and 1986, while two co-conspirators received lesser sentences of one and six years imprisonment.

The 2010 Norway terror plot was a Norway-based plan to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and to kill the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. Two men with links to Al-Qaeda were convicted of the plot, while a third person was acquitted of terror charges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic terrorism in Europe</span> Islamic terrorist attacks and plots in Europe

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The Kundby case was a 2016 plan to bomb two schools in Denmark, including a Jewish school in Copenhagen. The plan was made by a 15-year-old Danish girl from Kundby, Denmark named Natascha Colding-Olsen. The police found chemicals to create a bomb in her home in Kundby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kundby</span> Town in Region Zealand, Denmark

Kundby is a small town, with a population of 756, located in Holbæk Municipality on the northwestern part of Zealand in Region Zealand, Denmark. It is located within Kundby Church District (sogn) four km south of Gislinge and 15 km west of Holbæk. In 2016, the town became well-known for being the planning site of an unsuccessful terrorist attack.

References

  1. ↑ "Terrorlove og Muhammed-krise, 2001-2006". danmarkshistorien.dk (in Danish). Aarhus University . Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  2. ↑ "27 Injured in 3 Terrorist Explosions in Copenhagen". Los Angeles Times . Associated Press. 22 July 1985. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "30 års fængsel for terror i København" [Thirty years prison for terrorism in Copenhagen]. TV 2 (in Danish). Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Udvist terrordømt fra Vollsmose: Han må blive i Danmark". Fyens Stiftstidende (in Danish). 12 June 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Vollsmosesagen: Civilagenten Lars fældede terrornetværk". DR News (in Danish). 29 July 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  6. ↑ "Terroristen fra Vollsmose: - Jeg væmmes over den person, jeg var - TV 2". Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "12 og 7 års fængsel i terrorsag fra Glasvej". Berlingske (in Danish). 21 October 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Muhammedstriden gjorde Danmark til terrormål". vg.no (in Norwegian). 5 September 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  9. 1 2 Journalist, Søren Astrup (2008-10-21). "Fakta: De danske terrorsager". Politiken (in Danish). Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  10. ↑ "Terrordømte Said Mansour sendes ud af landet". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  11. ↑ "Police Arrest 'Militant Islamists' in Denmark Plot". Bloomberg.com. 2010-12-29. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  12. ↑ "Gerningsmanden skød med gevær som bruges i forsvaret". DR News (in Danish). 16 February 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  13. ↑ press.com/news/global/europe/learning-the-fundamentals-muslim-wannabe-danish-teen-guilty-of-planning-jewish-school-bombing/2017/05/16/ [ dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Overblik: Her er Kundbysagen". Berlingske (in Danish). 16 May 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  15. ↑ Journalist, Søren Astrup (2008-10-21). "Fakta: De danske terrorsager". Politiken (in Danish). Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  16. ↑ "Norsk-iraner pågrepet for drapsplan i Danmark – kaller dansk ambassadør hjem" (in Norwegian). vg.no. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. ↑ "Islamist terrorism suspects arrested in raids across Denmark". The Guardian. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  18. ↑ "To kvinder og seks mænd sigtet for terrorplaner: Ville fremstille bomber og forsøgte at købe våben" (in Danish). DR News. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
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