Another Islamist terror attack – this time on a Pride parade. A van plowed into the Berlin Pride Festival killing one woman and injuring 29 others. The driver was 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots.

Ballout had traveled via Turkey to Lebanon in 2025 with the aim of going to Syria to join the IS (Islamic State). While in Lebanon he made contact with several men he thought were members of the terrorist organization. He was arrested in Lebanon and sentenced by a military court. He received three months imprisonment for offenses including incitement to religious and sectarian conflict.

After completing his sentence, Ballout returned to Germany. He was immediately arrested at the Berlin airport. In May, a juvenile court in Berlin convicted him of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state. He was also convicted of publishing IS propaganda on his Instagram account.

The court handed down a suspended sentence of one year and ten months in youth custody, which Berlin prosecutors had appealed. The court said it took into account the months Ballout had spent in pre-trial detention in Germany and Lebanon. It also said it considered that Ballout had confessed to the crimes, appeared to distance himself from the terrorist group, and no actual threat had ever materialized.

Ballout was released from detention pending the appeal. In the meantime, he was participating in a deradicalization program. He had attended........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)