High Court overturns acquittal of Syrian man who incited terrorism

Supreme Court overturns acquittal of Syrian man who incited involvement with IS terrorist group by sharing IS-produced videos. Case sent back for retrial.

The 39-year-old Syrian has been accused of posting pro-IS videos on his Facebook account between 2015 and 2018 in an effort to persuade other members to join IS. He was further accused of convincing an acquaintance working at his former workplace-a junkyard in Pyeongtaek- about 65 kilometers south of Seoul- to join IS in 2018.

His videos link to IS directly with members, and this led prosecutors to conclude that he himself is a member of the group, although no evidence of such claims was provided during the trial. This is the first indictment made under South Korea’s counter-terrorism act, which was passed in 2016.

He was earlier convicted of inciting to join IS by a district court and gave him three years behind bars. An appellate court however acquitted him citing that there was not enough evidence.

The Supreme Court on Friday issued its decision which overturned the lower appellate court’s decision and has returned the case to the Incheon District Court for retrial, pointing out that he might be held culpable for violating the counterterrorism act.

The court said, “The suspect’s act of uploading articles and videos from IS with a link to the Telegram account under the name of IS could be deemed to encourage others to join and take part in the terrorist group.”