(Ha'aretz) Almog Ben Zikri - A Beersheba district court on Tuesday sentenced two cousins, Tasnim and Rahma al-Assad, 20, from Lakia in the south of Israel, to four and five years in prison, respectively, for conspiring with Islamic State and aiding it in planning attacks in Israel. The women were members of several Telegram chat groups associated with Islamic State and were in contact with agents of the group. According to the indictment, Tasnim was in communication with "Sheikh Qassem," who works on behalf of ISIS and spoke to her about carrying out an attack in Israel. She expressed willingness to assist him. "Sheikh Qassem" asked Tasnim to examine the entrance and exit points of Ben-Gurion University, the central station in Beersheba and another local college. Tasnim told him that she wouldn't recommend the station as a target because many Muslims frequent it. Tasnim then told Rahma of the conversation, and the two toured the university and the college in order to collect information about the possibility of carrying out an attack via suitcases packed with explosives. The judge determined, "Their identification with this lethal group was expressed not only in the acts they planned to carry out, but also in their attempts to convince other participants in Telegram groups of the truth that can be found in the way of ISIS. This reflects how committed the accused were to the lethal group."
2019-04-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive