Iranian Man Jailed in Germany Over Poison Attack Plot

A German court has sentenced an Iranian man to four years in prison followed by preventive detention for planning an attack with deadly chemicals.

Dirk Kienitz, the presiding judge at the Dortmund regional court, said in his verdict that the 26-year old defendant “was determined to carry out a terrorist attack using toxic substances,” according to a court statement. 

The man, who was identified by prosecutors only as J.J. due to German privacy rules, was detained in the town of Castrop-Rauxel in January along with his older brother, who was later released. 

Online conversations with several people said to be close to the Islamic State extremist group had alerted anti-terrorist investigators, the statement said.

It later emerged that the defendant had received instructions on how to produce the potent toxins cyanide and ricin, and had started gathering the necessary ingredients.

However, the judge said in his verdict that “the instructions were unusable.” 

Five years ago, German police arrested a Tunisian man and his wife on suspicion of planning to carry out a ricin attack in the name of the Islamic State. They were later sentenced to 10 and eight years’ imprisonment, respectively.