Wife of convicted Muslim terrorist on trial in Germany

BERLIN — The wife of a German convert to Islam who was convicted of plotting a thwarted attack on U.S. targets in Germany went on trial herself Friday on charges of supporting terrorist organizations.

Filiz Gelowicz, 28, is accused of supporting the Islamic Jihad Union and the German Taliban Mujahideen by helping provide euro3,000 ($4,225) to fund terrorist training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region between 2009 and 2010. She faces up to five years in prison.

One of two male co-defendants, identified only as 21-year-old Alican T., also went on trial in the Berlin state court on suspicion of supporting the same terrorist organizations. The other, Fatih K., 31, is in Turkish custody awaiting extradition to Germany.

When they were charged in August, prosecutors said in addition to raising the money that Alican T. posted 16 radical Islamic videos on the Internet trying to recruit new members for jihad, or holy war, while Filiz G. posted more than 1,000 videos, comments and texts online. In six contributions, Filiz F. specifically asked Muslims in Germany to join Islamic Jihad Union, the German Taliban Mujahideen and al-Qaida.

Gelowicz’s husband Fritz Gelowicz was convicted in March in Duesseldorf state court of plotting with three other members of the Islamic Jihad Union to attack American soldiers and citizens at facilities including the U.S. Air Force’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

The four men operated as a German cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union, a group the U.S. State Department has said has ties to Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the court found.
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See Also

• Jihad
• Islam and terrorism