BERLIN: A German-Afghan man whose information helped spark a European terrorism warning has been convicted of membership in Al-Qaeda.
Dapd news agency reported yesterday that the Koblenz state court found Ahmad Wali Siddiqui guilty of membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced him to six years in prison. A 10 year maximum sentence was possible but the court said though he trained in terrorist camps on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, there was no evidence he was part of any plans for an attack.
The 37-year-old was captured by US troops in Afghanistan in 2010. Information he provided to authorities on alleged Al-Qaeda plots targeting European cities prompted Germany to raise alert levels at Christmas time that year.
In the political front, support for Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD) has jumped since their victory in a regional election, a poll showed, highlighting the increased domestic pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The INSA survey, published by Bild newspaper yesterday, put the centre-left SPD on 32 percent, up three percentage points in just one week. Merkel's ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) was just ahead on 33 percent, down one percentage point.
Also worryingly for Merkel, her Free Democrat coalition partners were at 4 percent, below the 5 percent threshold required to gain seats in parliament, while the SPD's favoured coalition partner, the Greens, stood at 14 percent.
Earlier this month the CDU suffered a humiliating defeat at SPD hands in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), where it saw its support tumble to 26 percent from 35 percent in 2010.
The result prompted Merkel, who hopes to win a third term in national elections due in September 2013, to sack her environment minister after he led a poor election campaign.
The SPD's advances have emboldened the party to take a more confrontational approach at a time when Merkel needs their support to push an EU "fiscal compact" through the German parliament.
The INSA poll, conducted on May 18-21, also showed the maverick new Pirate Party winning 8 percent and the Left party 6 percent.
Terrorism suspect convicted in Germany
