Men facing terrorism charges possessed videos showing ‘macabre executions’

Mobile phones belonging to men accused of terrorism-related charges contained over 100 videos containing flags of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State or Daesh, some showing macabre executions, a court has been told today.

A police sergeant from the Counter Terrorism Unit took the witness stand on Thursday as the compilation of evidence against Ajil Al Muhsen, Adnan Maashi,Yazan Abduklaziz, Ahmed Kadas, Khalil Al Mahmoud , Ahmed Ahmed, and Mohammed Mohammed, all of whom are from Homs in Syria, continued before magistrate Nadine Lia.

The witness exhibited a detailed report on the data extracted from the devices, featuring amongst other things, screengrabs from the videos, as well as their origins.

123 videos extracted from Al Muhsen’s phone featured flags or logos related to the terrorist group, some of them were recordings of executions and beheadings. The witness said that one video shows a man in a cage - a Jordanian pilot who was captured by Daesh in 2015 - being burned alive.

63 images depicting logos or photos of prominent members of the group, as well as 66 audio files related to the same group were found. Some had been created by Daesh’s official media cell.

Al Muhsen’s Telegram account was subscribed to 14 channels which disseminate Daesh-related material, videos, pictures and other media, he said.

The witness was cross-examined by lawyer Alex Scerri Herrera, who asked whether the videos had been filmed by the defendants, sent by them or simply downloaded.

They were definitely not filmed by them, replied the witness, telling the court that the majority of the videos had been received through the Telegram channels. He stressed that users had to actively apply to join the channels. Al Mohsen had not sent any of them.

The lawyer asked about the video of the burning, asking how the officer had connected it to the Jordanian pilot “The video, approximately 20 minutes long, begins with the interrogation of this pilot. He says his name and the story of how he had taken off from Jordan and was captured. He is eventually burned alive in a cage. The video was widely reported on.”

Scerri Herrera asked whether the video was still available online. “As far as I know, no. There are specialised units which shut down such videos,” replied the witness.

The people who had shared the videos had not been identified, said the officer, in reply to another question by the lawyer.

The police sergeant also described the contents of Ahmed Ahmed’s mobile phone.

Besides his Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts, all of which featured his photograph, the police had discovered 65 videos of the same type as those found in the other man’s phone, as well as 17 images, all related to Daesh or other terrorist groups.

Ahmed was also subscribed to five Telegram channels transferring terrorism-related material, as well as a WhatsApp Chat featuring the group’s logos and flags.

The witness explained that the videos are automatically saved on the device as soon as they are viewed.

In today’s sitting, the court also heard submissions on a bail application filed by defendants.

Prosecutor Rebekah Spiteri said the Attorney General was objecting to the men’s release.

They were charged under an article of the law which deals with terrorism, which also criminalised the dissemination or promulgation of terrorist material.

Spiteri told the court that there was a myriad of incriminating videos and photographs in the acts, highlighting the fact that the law speaks of life imprisonment for these offences.

She argued that the defendant’s apparent support for terrorist acts showed there was a real risk of them not conforming with bail conditions. “They do not respect authority and law,” she said.

The court replied that disregard for authority and the law was the basis for every crime.

Bail should also be refused because the related investigations were still ongoing, the lawyer went on.

“And if they take 10 years, what are we going to do with these men?” asked the magistrate.

Spiteri replied that the prosecution was handling the case as expeditiously as possible, pointing out that new evidence was being exhibited at every sitting.

In addition to this, another magisterial inquiry investigating third parties who were also potentially involved in such activity was still ongoing, she said. “The Syrian community is a tight-knit one. There is a risk of tampering with evidence, as well as the identification of other suspects,” said the prosecutor, adding that other individuals have already been identified and were currently being investigated.

Prosecutor Antoine Agius Bonnici explained that the inquiry was considering a number of people as suspects. “Some were charged but the investigation is still ongoing. We asked that this inquiry be reopened to investigate these other people. There is a chance that some of these people will be arraigned in the coming days,” he said.

There was also the risk of the defendants absconding, said the prosecutor, saying their ties to Malta were weak and that some of the men had arrived in Malta using false travel documents.

In certain complex cases, the European Court of Human Rights had not found human rights breaches in cases of preventive custody extending to up to four years, he added.

“Other people may be identified from the data extracted from their devices. There is a very real risk of evidence being lost.”

Defence lawyer Jose Herrera disagreed with the prosecution’s arguments, which he said had “no basis in law or jurisprudence.”

The prosecution had only brought technical and police witnesses to testify so far, he pointed out. “To date, I have not yet seen a single civilian witness. It is an academic fear, simply to garnish the argument.”

Herrera said that jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg “all says that the maximum reasonable length of an arrest is between 8 to 11 months. You need particular reasons to exceed this and here there are no witnesses. It is not fair.”

Lawyer Matthew Xuereb, who is also representing the defendants, informed the court that the subsidiary legislation transposing EU law on terrorism offences into Maltese law had only been issued a month after the defendants’ arrests.

“We can’t come before the court to say they will flee back to their home country after applying for refugee protection,” added lawyer Alex Scerri Herrera.

The hearing of the bail application was suspended at the defence’s request until the required guarantees were provided.

The case will continue next week.

Police inspectors Jeffrey Cutajar and Jean Paul Attard are prosecuting, assisted by lawyers Antoine Agius Bonnici, Francesco Refalo and Rebekah Spiteri from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Jose Herrera, Alexander Scerri Herrera, Matthew Xuereb, Robert Galea and Alicia Borg are defence counsel. Francesca Zarb is representing Khalil al Mahmoud.