The convicted men included two with foreign passports - a 20-year old Swede of Bosnian parentage named Mirsad Bektasevic (pictured), and Cesur Abdulkadir, a Turkish man who has a Daniish passport. The pair had arrived in Bosnia three weeks before their arrest on October 23, 2005.
When the pair were arrested, they were living in Ilidza, a suburb of Sarajevo. Their arrest had come after a surveillance operation which had also involved 10 people when it began. The arrest had uncovered not only the videotape, but also suicide vests, about 30 kilograms, or 65 pounds, of high explosive, as well as exploding bullets and a machine pistol.
Mirsad Bektasevic, the Swede, had relatives in Bosnia. He had grown up on the west coast of Sweden. His mother, Nafija Hamedovic, claimed that Mirsad had left school about a year and a half before his arrest, and had begun to attend a mosque in Gothenburg, not far from their home.
It was at this mosque, she claimed in November 2005, that her son became influenced by three men - a Palestinian from Syria, a Kurd and a Somali. She said: "He was not religious before, but in the past two years he practiced more seriously."
"Some people frightened him and talked to him about hell, and told him he would be tortured in hell if he does not pray and does not believe."
Bektasevic and Abdulkadir have been in custody in Sarajevo since their arrest last October. On September 23, 2006, the trial resumed after a hiatus. On that date, a video was presented before the court, in which two masked men were shown threatening to carry out terror attacks in Europe. In addition, a collection of weapons, including hand grenades and what seemed to be explosives, were displayed in the footage. The individuals on the video stated that the arsenal was to be used against European countries which had soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that they were all ready to commit the attack.
Monika Jagerman, from the Swedish Embassy in Bosnia-Hercegovina, has said that Bektasevic had admitted that he had made the video on a camera he had borrowed from his Bosnian aunt. The video was recovered from the apartment that he shared with Abdulkadir.
According to local media in Bosnia, Mirza Jusufovic, the judge, said that Bektasevic, Abdulkadir and two others were planning terrorist acts in Bosnia and also in several other European countries.
19-year old Bektasevic was given a jail sentence of 15 years and four months, while Abdulkadir Cesur received a 13-year sentence. Additionally, two Bosnian nationals who had assisted them in their attempts to gather explosives and weaponry, were also sentenced. These were 30-uear old Bajro Ikanovic, who received a jail sentence of eight years, and Senad Hasanovic received a two and a half year sentence.
As they were handed down their sentences, all four shouted "Allahu Ackbar" in the courtroom.
The plot in which the men were involved also included people living in Britain and Denmark.
Mirsad Bektasevic, in his codename of Maximus was linked with three men who were arrested in Britain. Waseem Mughal from Kent, Younis Tsouli from West London, and Tariq al-Daour, were charged on November 4 2005, with conspiracy and terror charges in the UK. The Britis
RSS