Man with combat experience calling for jihad and mass attacks detained in Sofia

A 50-year-old man was arrested in Sofia for propaganda of war. The man filmed a video message calling for jihad and mass attacks against Israeli, American and European sites, the Ministry of Interior and Prosecutor's office said at a joint press conference on October 26.

The arrested man was born in Beirut, Lebanon, but has no citizenship. He has been in Bulgaria since 1996, with humanitarian status since 2004. In 2017, he was convicted of aiding illegal residents after he was caught on the Trakia motorway transporting six illegal migrants from Afghanistan. He then offered a €200 bribe to the police patrol that stopped him and was arrested.

He was given a suspended sentence and was rehabilitated after his probation period.

The detainee is married, with a secondary education. He had combat experience and had taken part in hostilities.

He was arrested following the protest in defence of Palestine. Two mobile phones, computers, an ISIS flag, a cold weapon and materials yet to be translated were seized from his home.

A facial-identification examination identified the detainee as the man in the video calling for attacks. Computer-technical expertise shows that the video was distributed from one of the seized phones, the Ministry of Interior said.

He was charged with propaganda for hostilities, for which the law provides for up to eight years of imprisonment.

He is arrested for 72 hours, the court is to consider his remand measure tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.