The trial began Monday of an 18-year-old accused of attempting to murder "infidels" by throwing two Molotov cocktails into the entrance of a shopping mall. Both devices failed to ignite, and no one was injured in the attack. The man, identified only as Saleh S. in line with German laws to protect the privacy of defendants, has been in psychiatric custody since December.

Authorities say the teenager had hoped to "spread fear and terror in the population."

Prosecutors allege that he traveled to Syria twice to fight alongside extremists. They say that the second time he took his then-15-year-old sister, Safia, to Turkey, where she met with members of the "Islamic State." Less than a month after the girl's return, she had been arrested by German police, allegedly for carrying out orders given by IS.

Safia's story

In January, a court sentenced Safia, now 16, to six years in prison for stabbing a police officer in the neck with a vegetable knife at Hanover's main train station in February 2016. Because of Safia's age, the trial was not open to the public.

According to investigators, Safia had intended to carry out a "martyrdom operation" for IS. The 34-year-old police officer suffered life-threatening injuries but survived after undergoing surgery.

Safia's defense called her sentence "unquestionably high" and announced an appeal. Her lawyers said a teenager lacked the capacity to understand the impact of her actions. The defense team had pushed the court to convict the teenager on the reduced charge of aggravated assault, arguing that the knife attack had resulted exclusively in grievous bodily harm and that Safia had not intended to kill the officer.

Lawyers disputed the charge that Safia supported IS, pointing out that the group's members have not generally apologized to their victims after attacks, as she had when she wrote a letter to the officer while in custody. Nevertheless, in January the judge cited Safia's mobile phone chats as proof of her intent to kill on behalf of IS.

The girl's father, identified only as Robin S., told the RedaktionsNetzwerk news platform that prosecutors had carried out a "show trial" against his daughter because of her religion. "She wore a head scarf," he told the platform, "but she was also a fan of Justin Bieber and played soccer."

Robin said Safia regretted her actions and deserved another chance. "If she had been a punk," he said, "she would have gotten a maximum of two years."

Germany's biggest Islamist trials Failed Bonn bomb The blue bag left on the platform at Bonn's central station in 2012 contained explosives that did not go off, but a city-wide manhunt unfolded. Marco G. was eventually arrested and charged with planting the bomb. Three others are charged with plotting to assassinate a politician from the far-right PRO-NRW party. Their group allegedly drew inspration from an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan.

Germany's biggest Islamist trials Frankfurt airport bus attack In March 2011, Arid Uka shot dead two US servicemen waiting for a bus at Frankfurt airport prior to deployment in Afghanistan. "This is indeed the first Islamic-motivated terror strike to have happened in Germany," the judge said, adding Uka had sought revenge for military operations in Afghanistan. Uka, born in Kosovo, acted alone and was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.

Germany's biggest Islamist trials The Sauerland Cell The "Sauerland Cell" was a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a terrorist group on the Pakistani-Afghan border. The four German and Turkish men had planned large-scale bomb attacks against American targets in Germany from their base in the western region of the Sauerland. Arrested in September 2007, they were sentenced in March 2010 for up to 12 years.

Germany's biggest Islamist trials Sharia Police Sven Lau, a Salafist Muslim, was the man behind a well-known Islamist publicity stunt. In 2014, Lau led several men around the city of Wuppertal in orange security vests labeled "Sharia police." Acting as state authorities, they warned people visiting local clubs and bars to adhere to Sharia, or Islamic law. He is currently on trial for backing a terror group fighting in Syria.

Germany's biggest Islamist trials Big mouth Nils D., a Salafist from Dinslaken, joined the "Islamic State" in Syria in October 2013. He tracked down the group's deserters - armed with explosives and guns. He returned to Germany a year later, and boastful statements about his time in Syria eventually got him arrested. He confessed the names of other German Islamic extremists and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.

Germany's biggest Islamist trials "Biggest mistake of my life" On the final day of Harry S.'s July 2016 trial, he said "going to Syria was the biggest mistake of my life." The Bremen-born Muslim convert spent three months with "Islamic State" in Syria in 2015. He wanted out after civilians were murdered for a short recruitment film he helped make. He was sentenced to three years in jail for being part of a foreign terrorist organization.



mkg/rt (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)