Austria Swift concert trial: 15 years in prison for Islamists
A 21-year-old Islamist has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his plans to attack a Taylor Swift concert and for forming a terrorist cell. The Wiener Neustadt Regional Court considered it proven that the Austrian with North Macedonian roots wanted to attack fans of the US star outside the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna in August 2024.
28.05.2026, 21:56
28.05.2026, 21:57
SDA
He had also supported another Islamist who injured Saudi Arabian security forces in a knife attack in Mecca in 2024. This is considered aiding and abetting attempted murder. This offense was also committed by a co-defendant who was also 21 years old. He received a 12-year prison sentence for this.
In a brief closing statement, the main defendant expressed remorse. "I would like to say that I am sorry." The co-defendant of the same age explained that he was almost grateful for the time he had spent in prison so far, as it had given him the opportunity for personal reorientation. He asked the court to give him a second chance.
Addiction to fame as a motive
The main defendant had confessed to the assassination plans in court. According to his testimony, the driving force was his addiction to fame in order to be seen as a hero by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia. He had thought about using knives, a truck and a bomb. According to investigators, preparations to build a shrapnel bomb were well advanced.
The 21-year-old main defendant had only been arrested shortly before the concert following a tip-off from a foreign secret service. According to the indictment, the defendant was not targeting the singer, but her fans in the vicinity of the stadium. The three planned concerts with an expected attendance of almost 200,000 were canceled by the organizer as a precautionary measure.
Swift was on her acclaimed "Eras Tour" at the time. Her fans, many of whom had traveled from far and wide, were disappointed but still celebrated in Vienna's city centre.
The accusation of forming a terrorist cell is particularly serious
The accusation of forming a terrorist cell weighed particularly heavily in the proceedings. The two defendants and the accomplice in custody in Saudi Arabia had jointly planned a series of attacks in Mecca, Dubai and Istanbul, according to the indictment. While the suspect carried out the attack in Mecca, the two defendants traveled to Dubai and Istanbul, but abandoned their plans at the last second.
Their original intention had been to trigger a Muslim uprising in each case, as neither Turkey nor the United Arab Emirates nor Saudi Arabia were really strictly Muslim, the public prosecutor's office went on to explain. The main defendant had looked for possible other destinations after returning from Dubai and then decided on the Swift concert.
Swift on Instagram: Am grateful to the authorities
After the arrest and the cancellation of her concerts, Swift remained silent for two weeks - and played five sold-out concerts in London in the meantime. She then wrote on Instagram that she had initially wanted to remain silent out of caution until the concerts in London had taken place. "The reason for the cancellations has caused me a new sense of anxiety and a great deal of guilt because so many people had planned to come to the shows," Swift wrote. But she was also grateful to the authorities, "because thanks to them we were mourning concerts and not lives".
