Muslim Teenagers Jailed For Bombing Sikh Temple In Germany

Three German-born Muslim teenagers have been sentenced to up to seven years in jail for a religiously motivated bombing in a Sikh temple in the city of Essen.

“The judge ruled that the teens should serve sentences of seven years, six years and nine months and six years in a juvenile detention center,” Deutsche Welle reported.

The three arrested perpetrators Yusuf T., Mohamed B. and Tolga I. were 16 years old when they detonated their self-made bomb outside of the temple last year.

The explosion of their homemade explosive made out of a fire extinguisher packed with explosive chemicals destroyed the entrance of the temple and injured three people including a Sikh priest.

According to Deutsche Welle, prosecutors claim that the three defendants carried out the bomb attack because they consider Sikhs to be infidels and begrudge them for the treatment of Muslims by Sikhs in northern India.

The three offenders deny that their attack was motivated by religion, and said they hadn't intended to kill anyone, but didn’t provide any explanation for why they bombed a Sikh temple.

Prosecutors assume that the teenagers had probably been radicalised via social media networks.

Radicalisation prevention expert Jens Ostwaldt told Deutsche Welle in an interview that anti-radicalisation efforts in Germany need to be improved to prevent more naïve youths from falling into the hands of extremist groups and end up as criminals.

“The cooperation with Islamic groups and mosques should also improve. We could work together on concrete prevention projects. Mosques and Muslim associations are currently not considered as important enough partners in prevention work. That needs to change,” he said.

-mD