Iraqi sentenced for supporting terror

A German court on Monday sentenced an Iraqi man to 5 1/2 years in prison for supporting an extremist group believed to have been behind attacks in his homeland.

The Munich state court found that Ferhad Kanabi Ahmad, a 36-year-old Iraqi Kurd, gave the equivalent of $8,935 to a member of Ansar al-Sunna in Germany "and so supported terror in Iraq." It stopped just short of the prosecution's call for a six-year sentence.

The defense had called for Ahmad to be acquitted. The defendant stayed silent during the yearlong trial, and the prosecutors' case relied heavily on intercepted phone calls and e-mails.

Ansar al-Sunna is the successor to Ansar al-Islam, which was formed in the Kurdish parts of Iraq and is believed to include former al-Qaida members who fled the U.S.-led ouster of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

The organizations are suspected of involvement in a string of deadly attacks on U.S. troops and Iraqi police as well as foreign embassies, international organizations and rival Iraqi groups.

The court convicted Ahmad on three counts of supporting a foreign terrorist organization. It also found him guilty of violating German export laws because Ansar al-Sunna is listed by the European Union as a terrorist organization and giving it money violates an EU embargo.

In its ruling, the court said the living costs of a fighter in Iraq add up to only $20-50 per day.

"The money collected and transferred by the defendant constituted a significant contribution to the financing of terrorist actions, particularly suicide attacks," the ruling said.

In a parallel trial at the Munich court that ended last month, another Iraqi man, Dieman Abdulkadir Izzat, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for giving money to Ansar al-Islam.