Published on Jul 28, 2016: In Brazil, a week ahead of the Olympics, a Brazilian man has been arrested on terrorism charges after he posted comments online about the Islamic State militant group. 28-year-old Chaer Kaloun, a (Islamist) Brazilian citizen of Lebanese descent, was "taken overnight to Ary Franco prison in Rio and arrested for having posted comments on Islamic State" according to his lawyer. Officials gave little detail about the arrest, and the justice department said only that the arrest was made under anti-terrorism laws and that the indictment remains sealed. Separately, Brazilian federal police and the country's intelligence agency are searching for an Iranian (Islamist) man who is suspected of plotting terror attacks. These new developments come a week after 12 men were arrested on accusations of forming a cell to discuss potential attacks at the time of the Rio Olympics and swearing loyalty to the Islamic State.
What "blowback" do you Marxists, and media blame this Islamist terror on?8 Brazilians have been sentenced for plotting jihadist attacks ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, #Brazilhttps://t.co/Yka7xSpCRq pic.twitter.com/uD6Kwn8ScK— dwnews (@dwnews) May 5, 2017
Deutsche Welle News, Germany
written by staff and agencies
Friday May 5, 2017
The eight Brazilian men were found guilty on Thursday of recruiting and promoting terrorism, and handed sentences of between five and 15 years
In his sentencing, Judge Marcos Josegrei da Silva said the men "exulted in and celebrated terrorist acts carried out around the world, publishing videos of executions by the Islamic State (group) and instructions on how to swear loyalty to the group's leader."
The 100-page sentence included images of the men extolling the Islamic State group online and posing in front of a flag with the words "Islamic State" scrawled on it in Arabic.
The leader in question according to Brazilian authorities was 33-year-old Leonid El Kadrem, who received the longest sentence of 15 years and 10 months.
'Amateur cell'
According to prosecutors, the group's communications focused between mid-March and July 21 last year, when the first series of arrests were announced just weeks before the start of the Games as part of an operation dubbed "Hashtag."
Brazil's then-justice minister Alexandre Moraes said the group had pledged their allegiance to the so-called "Islamic State" jihadist group but downplayed any links. "Some of them made an oath of loyalty by Internet to the Islamic State, but there was no personal contact by this group with Islamic State by WhatsApp," he said, adding that the group was "an absolutely amateur cell" and "disorganized."
The closest the group got to committing a concrete terrorist act was trying to buy black market weapons from a supplier in neighboring Paraguay. The group's members reportedly also encouraged each other to begin martial arts training.
New anti-terror laws
Thursday's ruling marked the first time that a highly debated new Brazilian anti-terror law formed the basis of a legal ruling.
Last year, Brazil's Congress passed the new law that widened the scope of what could be deemed a terror act. The new legislation dictates that anyone found guilty of "advocating terrorism" could face up to eight years in prison, and 10 to years for "joining terrorist organizations."
However, the new law drew condemnation from rights groups for failing to define "terrorism" or "terrorist." Rights advocates warned that its broad language could lead to a crackdown against freedom of speech.
The city of Rio de Janeiro, a city known for its rampant levels of armed crime, was under close examination for how it would handle terror and security threats during last year's Olympics. Around 85,000 police and military personnel were deployed to safeguard some 11,000 Olympic athletes and several hundred thousand tourists.
Authorities succeeded in ensuring the Games ran without any major incident.
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