Prosecutors charge juvenile over Taylor Swift Vienna concert terror plot
German prosecutors have charged a Syrian juvenile in connection with a foiled terror plot targeting a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year.
Identified as Mohammad A, the suspect faces charges of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation. According to a statement from the prosecutor general on Friday, he allegedly assisted the would-be attacker by translating Arabic bomb-building instructions and facilitating online contact with a member of the Islamic State militia.
Police made multiple arrests over a suspected plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in the Austrian capital's Ernst Happel Stadium, prompting the cancellation of all three of her shows there in August last year.
"Mohammad A has adhered to the ideology of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) since April 2024 at the latest," the statement said.
"Between mid-July and August 2024, he was in contact with a young Austrian who was planning a bomb attack on a concert by singer Taylor Swift in Vienna."
Austria's coalition government earlier this month agreed on a plan to enable police to monitor suspects' secure messaging in order to thwart militant attacks, ending what security officials have said is a rare and dangerous blind spot for a European Union country.
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