Word: gelowicz
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...Gelowicz's lawyers say the catalyst for his transformation to extremism was apparently Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese descent, who prayed at the Islamic center with him. El-Masri claims he had been abducted by the CIA in Macedonia in 2003 and taken to Afghanistan, where he was held for five months on suspicion of having links to al-Qaeda. (His detention was later revealed to be a case of mistaken identity and the case became the subject of a Bundestag inquiry.) "Gelowicz told the court that 'The Americans have brought the war to my mosque,'" defense attorney...
...During the trial, Gelowicz admitted he had been a member of the al-Qaeda-linked, Pakistan-based terrorist group, Islamic Jihad Union, and that in 2006, he had traveled to an IJU training camp in northwestern Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan where he received training in weapons and explosives and met Schneider, who later became one of the other operatives in the Sauerland cell. On their return to Germany, Gelowicz's lawyer says the men discussed a number of high-profile U.S. targets, like Ramstein Air Base. "They had clear goals - they wanted to kill U.S. soldiers in Germany...
...confessions of the men in the Sauerland cell were so thorough and detailed that even prosecutors were surprised. But did they regret their actions? Gelowicz's lawyer points out that his client said during the trial "luckily nothing happened," seeming to be relieved their terror plot had been thwarted. Luckily, Germany did avert a major terrorist attack - this time. The question is whether the authorities have learned any lessons to prevent the next homegrown plot from coming to fruition...
...verdicts brought to a close a 10-month trial that highlighted the danger of homegrown terrorists in Germany. The defendants - Fritz Gelowicz, 30, and Daniel Schneider, 24, both Germans; Adem Yilmaz, a 31-year-old Turk; and Atilla Selek, a 25-year-old Turkish-German - had confessed to all of the charges against them. Prosecutors detailed how they had plotted to bomb U.S. military bases in Germany, such as Ramstein Air Base, as well as places like discos and pubs where U.S. service personnel were known to go. The attacks were planned for October 2007, just before a parliamentary vote...
...leader of the group was Gelowicz, who was born in Munich and converted to Islam when he was 16. Though he became a devout Muslim, he appeared to lead the life of a normal teenager - he even played quarterback on an American football team. Things changed, however, when he started visiting an Islamic center in the southern city of Neu-Ulm and found himself outraged over the photos of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq and the terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay. "This Islamic center was a meeting place for young Muslims and they felt a sense...