A 16-year-old, implicated in aiding a thwarted attack targeting a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year, has avoided a custodial sentence.
Mohamed A, identified under German privacy laws, received an 18-month suspended sentence in Berlin on Tuesday, adjudicated under juvenile criminal law.
Prosecutors stated the Syrian national, then 14, had been radicalized online by Islamic State (IS) propaganda. He reportedly assisted the prospective attacker by translating bomb-making instructions from Arabic and facilitating contact with an IS member.
Swift’s three sold-out performances at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium were canceled in August of the previous year by organizers, following the discovery of the planned assault by law enforcement.
The court noted the teenager had provided a full confession regarding the charges against him.
At the time the charges were filed, the suspect was identified as Mohamed A, adhering to German privacy regulations.
A suspended sentence mandates that convicts meet specific conditions to avoid imprisonment.
Austrian authorities have also detained three additional suspects, all teenagers at the time, in connection with the plot.
An investigation remains ongoing into the primary suspect, identified as Beran A. The 20-year-old Austrian national is currently in custody, having been apprehended prior to the concerts based on intelligence provided by the CIA.
The U.S. foreign intelligence agency indicated the plotters intended to inflict mass casualties among concert attendees.
Investigators allege Beran A had also conceived of an earlier attack in Dubai during March 2024.
Reports suggest this was part of a coordinated scheme involving three simultaneous IS-linked attacks, though he reportedly abandoned the plan at the last moment.
In August of the previous year, Swift characterized the cancellation of her Vienna tour dates as “devastating.”
“However, I was also immensely grateful to the authorities, as their intervention ensured we were mourning concert cancellations rather than lives lost,” she added.
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A young Syrian national is suspected of supporting a foreign terror group over a foiled plot in Vienna last August.
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The US pop star cancelled three concerts in Austria after an alleged suicide attack plot was uncovered.