A 29-year-old Syrian man’s attempt to overturn his terrorism conviction backfired when an appeals court doubled his prison sentence from two to four years.
Abdullah Al Zaytan appealed his two-year sentence from Limassol District Court for violating the Combating Terrorism and Protection of Victims Law 2019. The Appeals Court rejected both grounds of his appeal but accepted the Law Office’s counter-appeal arguing the sentence was manifestly inadequate.
Judges Michalis Ambizas, Stella Christodoulidou-Messiou and Iphigenia Stylianidou increased the sentence to four years, finding the original term failed to reflect the gravity of the offence or the risk to public safety.
Police arrested Al Zaytan on 3 January 2021 in Moniatis village following a coordinated operation based on FBI intelligence, philenews has learnt.
Officers found training manuals on his mobile phone explaining how to make bombs, improvised explosive devices, landmines, explosives and chemical and biological weapons, the court heard. Videos on the phone showed methods for building devices to attack restaurants, buses and nightclubs.
The material was structured and gave step-by-step instructions using easily accessible materials deployed in previous terrorist attacks. The first instance court found the quantity, quality and structure of the manuals pointed to someone training to use them.
Al Zaytan first challenged the court’s decision to amend the indictment by adding a new charge with a different offence date. The Appeals Court dismissed this, ruling the amendment followed Article 85(4) of Cap.155 lawfully and caused no prejudice to his defence.
He next argued prosecutors failed to prove the constituent elements of the offence, particularly his intent to commit or contribute to a terrorist act. The Appeals Court found the lower court properly justified its decision based on the material’s content and expert testimony on terrorism.
The judges rejected his claim that “training” requires hands-on practice. Under EU Directive 2017/541, self-teaching via the internet counts as training when done with terrorist intent, the court noted.
The court also dismissed jurisdictional challenges, finding that possessing the training material in Cyprus at arrest was enough to establish the offence.
The Law Office successfully argued the two-year sentence was manifestly inadequate given the offence’s seriousness and threat to public safety.
The Appeals Court upheld the conviction and replaced the original sentence with four years imprisonment.
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