In 2017, a native of Baghdad sent money to Mosul, Iraq, to his then 21-year-old son, an active member of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization, allegedly mainly for an improved newborn grandson.
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The aid in the amount of 54 thousand crowns, the court described as the support of IS. Men from Humpolec were threatened with up to twelve years in prison. This is the first verdict of the Czech judiciary on the financing of terrorism.
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“He financially supported a member of a terrorist group, of which he knew. Batek’s son (in the Czech transcription Bátik) cooked for his comrades from the IS and actively fought them. At the same time, the accused did not appear to be an IS sympathizer during his entire stay in the Czech Republic, “she explained the final verdict at the very lower limit of the penalty rate, which was agreed upon by the prosecution and the defense, Judge Anna Sobotková.
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“I’d like to apologize. I did not think of possible consequences, “responded the former photo reporter of the Iraqi news agency Al Samarraie, who has been working as a factory worker in the Czech Republic for the last fourteen years.
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The views of his son were not unknown to Al Samarrai. Batek sent videos of terrorist acts and news to his father via the Internet. “Dad, in the name of Allah, I cook better than you, better than in a five-star hotel,” Batek described the effort to feed his IS comrades as best he could.
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“I did not say what my son was doing anywhere. I was ashamed of it. He chose a path from which there is no return. I didn’t want to pull information from him so he wouldn’t interrupt communication. I put my hopes in my grandson, whose photo I still carry with me. I wanted my son’s family to disappear from the besieged territory of IS. My son wanted the money I sent him without knowing it was a terrorist act, “said Al Samarraie, who was to study in what was then Czechoslovakia, where he says he was a guide to executed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 1980 (1937-2006). ) during his private leave.
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Intelligence reports
He also studied journalism in Germany. He later went to Iraq to fight in the Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988). He returned to the Czech Republic, where he remarried, permanently in 2006.
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Mohammed Yousef Al Samarrai was brought to justice by, among others, the secret services about the activities of the prosecuted son. After living in the United Arab Emirates, he lived for some time in the Czech Republic, from where he left to fight in the ranks of IS as a staunch Islamist and Orthodox Sharia law defender.
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“According to the US FBI, he was on the IS payroll. First as a fighter and later as a propagandist, “said public prosecutor Martin Bílý. “Since the summer of 2017, when Mosul was occupied by the Allies, I have not heard from him or his family. I want to contact the Red Cross and other organizations to help, “Al Samarraie plans.
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