Denmark charges Syrian-Danish man with treason, terrorism

The District Court in Copenhagen
The District Court in Copenhagen

DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – A Danish court charged on Tuesday a Syrian-Danish man with treason over fighting within the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

The District Court in Copenhagen concluded that Ahmad Salem al-Hajj participated in an armed conflict against Denmark in Syria.

Ahmad al-Hajj is a Danish citizen of Syrian origin who had lived in Denmark’s second largest city of Aarhus before traveling to Syria in 2013.

The 32-year-old convicted man is now a wheelchair user as a result of a bomb injury sustained in a battle in Syria.

He was smuggled to Turkey with his wife and two children in the fall of 2017 and then extradited to Denmark in 2019.

In addition to treason, he is known to be guilty of a number of other terrorism-related violations of the Danish law, including attempting to recruit members of his family into ISIS.

The verdict, set to be read on May 25, will most likely be a life sentence.

The court said that, among other things, Ahmad al-Hajj engaged in a “terrorist” organization, participated in hostilities and agreed with ISIS ideology.