Sweden Sentences Islamic State Stockholm Attack Plotter to Seven Years

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – A 46-year-old man was found guilty Friday of preparing an attack in Stockholm on behalf of the Islamic State group and sentenced to seven years in jail.

The Solna District Court in Stockholm says David Idrisson, an Uzbek national who has been living legally in Sweden since 2008, should be expelled for life from Sweden where his family lives after serving his time. He was also found guilty of financing the radical Islamic group in Syria.

The court said Friday that Idrisson had gathered some 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of chemicals, knives, gas masks and military equipment, and photos of potentials targets in Stockholm were found on his cellphone.

Two other younger men who Idrisson knows and who were also suspected in the case, were acquitted. They were released from detention earlier this week.

A total of six men were also accused of financing IS by sending up to 20,000 kronor ($2.135) each. The court found four of them – including Idrisson – guilty of that charge and gave them prison sentences ranging between four and six months. Two were acquitted.

The men – five Uzbeks and a citizen of Kyrgyzstan – communicated via closed chatrooms. All live legally in Sweden and denied wrongdoing.

There was no link to Rakhmat Akilov, the Uzbek man behind the 2017 deadly Stockholm truck attack.