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German Court Hands Tunisian 10-Year Sentence for Ricin Bomb Plot

Sief Allah H. on trial in Cologne in June 2019. Photo: DPA
Sief Allah H. on trial in Cologne in June 2019. Photo: DPA
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German Court Hands Tunisian 10-Year Sentence for Ricin Bomb Plot

Sief Allah H. on trial in Cologne in June 2019. Photo: DPA
Sief Allah H. on trial in Cologne in June 2019. Photo: DPA

When Tunisian Sief Allah H entered the courtroom in the western German city of Dusseldorf this week, he was all smiles and asked the police officer standing next to him to respect social distancing as a measure to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

The humor of the 31-year-old man, who has been in jail since 2018, turned into a nightmare when the judge at Dusseldorf’s higher regional court sentenced him to 10 years in prison for planning a biological bomb attack with the deadly poison ricin.

The ISIS sympathizer had ordered castor seeds, explosives and metal ball bearings on the internet in order to build the toxic bomb.

He was found guilty of producing a biological weapon and of planning a serious act of violent subversion.

His German wife Yasmin, 43, stands accused of helping him build the bomb but she is now being tried separately after the court accused her defense lawyers of attempting to spin out the case with a 140-page statement on Thursday.

Her trial will resume on April 1.

The couple "wanted to create a climate of fear and uncertainty among the German population," judge Jan van Lessen said.

He added that they had produced enough ricin to potentially kill up to 13,500 people.

The couple have been on trial since June last year.

Federal prosecutors said the couple had "for a long time identified with the aims and values of the foreign terrorist organization ISIS".

They decided in 2017 to detonate an explosive in a large crowd, "to kill and wound the largest possible number of people," prosecutors said ahead of the trial.

The pair had allegedly researched various forms of explosives before deciding on the deadly poison.

They ordered 3,300 castor beans over the internet and successfully made a small amount of ricin.

They also bought a hamster to test the potency of the poison.

"He is certainly guilty, we do not deny that," they reportedly said.

Before travelling to Germany, Sief Allah H worked as a mailman in Tunisia.

He had tried to travel to Syria to fight alongside extremists. But when his plans failed, he thought about an alternative plan to carry out the biological attack.

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7.0 Quake Causes Slight Damage in Tonga and Brief Tsunami Evacuations

7.0 Quake Causes Slight Damage in Tonga and Brief Tsunami Evacuations
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7.0 Quake Causes Slight Damage in Tonga and Brief Tsunami Evacuations

7.0 Quake Causes Slight Damage in Tonga and Brief Tsunami Evacuations

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit near Tonga early Monday morning, causing slight damage and brief evacuations before the threat of a tsunami hitting the Pacific island country passed.
Tsunami sirens could be heard after the 1:18 a.m. quake urging residents to move inland in a live video streamed by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission. People in the capital, Nuku’alofa, were seen moving inland or to higher ground before officials gave the all-clear for residents to return home.
Tongans posting on social media reported being able to place calls to most islands in the archipelago. Taekwondo athlete Pita Taufatofua posted to Facebook that items fell from shelves and tables and pictures fell from the walls during the shaking, The Associated Press reported.
“Was hard to stand up,” he wrote. “Never felt an earthquake go for that long.”
The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of 29 kilometers (18 miles) and was centered about 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of the main island. Hours later, a second 6.1 magnitude quake hit in the same area.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a notice after the first quake saying hazardous waves were possible but the threat passed with only minor sea changes detected. A warning was also cancelled hours later by the country's disaster management office.
There were no reported casualties or structural damage, said Mafua Maka, the agency's director, speaking to Radio New Zealand a few hours after the quake. Further assessment would be made in daylight, local news outlets said.
Tonga is a country in Polynesia made up of 171 islands with just over 100,000 people, most of whom live on the main island of Tongatapu. It is 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) northeast of New Zealand and situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a tectonic region of earthquakes and volcanoes.