Supreme Court overturns acquittal of Syrian accused of terrorism incitement

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court’s acquittal of a Syrian man accused of inciting participation in the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group by uploading videos created by IS, sending the case back for retrial.

The 39-year-old Syrian individual, who previously worked at a junkyard in Pyeongtaek, some 65 kilometers south of Seoul, was indicted on charges of uploading videos promoting the terrorist group on his Facebook account between 2015 and 2018 to incite membership. He was also charged with encouraging a colleague to join IS in 2018.

The videos he uploaded were produced by IS and included a link that allowed direct communication with IS members. Prosecutors concluded that the man was himself a member of IS.

It was the first indictment under the country’s counterterrorism act, which was enacted in 2016.

A district court had initially convicted him of inciting participation in IS and sentenced him to three years in prison, but in a subsequent ruling, an appellate court acquitted him, cit
ing insufficient evidence.

On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down the appellate court’s acquittal, citing possible culpability for violating the counterterrorism act and returned the case to the Incheon District Court for retrial.

“The suspect’s act of uploading articles and videos (from IS), along with a link to the Telegram account under the name of (IS), could be seen … as encouraging others to join and participate in the terrorist group,” the court said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency