Seven men, in preventive custody since their arraignment in May over suspicious jihadist activity on social media, have had their request for bail denied by a judge who said there was a real fear that they would try to leave Malta.
Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja ruled that the men, who are all Syrian, had no ties with the country and the fear that they would abscond was heightened, especially since they have contacts abroad and know that the proceedings against them would stop if they left.
Ajil Al Muhsen, 21, Adnan Maashi, 21, Yazan Abdulaziz, 26, Ahmed Kadas, 25, Khalil Al Hamoud, 21, Ahmed Ahmed, 27 and Mohammed Mohammed, 24, were targeted by police investigations after their social media activity raised suspicion. They were eventually charged with terrorism.
The men fled Syria and travelled to Malta in 2017 when Syrian government forces drove out the ISIS terrorist group from the area where they lived.
In August 2022, police began to investigate a group of people who published extremist material related to ISIS on their social media accounts, later roping in the European police agency’s assistance in the investigations.
On April 29, the seven suspects were rounded up during early morning raids and two days later were charged in court, all pleading not guilty to distributing material aimed at inciting terrorism, recruiting or encouraging third parties to carry out terrorist acts or planning to travel abroad as part of a terrorist plot.
During the arraignment, their lawyers did not request bail but filed an application for bail before the criminal court.
Their defence lawyers argued that the men currently had pending constitutional proceedings in which they are claiming a breach of their right to a fair hearing since their continued arrest was not reviewed fortnightly in terms of the law.
They said the evidence in this case was all documented, including through a magisterial inquiry. The fear of interfering with justice is inexistent, they said.
The argument by the prosecution that there was a pending investigation was “fallacious”, they said, adding that many of them have been in Malta for five or six years.
The prosecution said that one of the defendants had communicated with a third party to remove the incriminating material. There are videos that show how a bomb could be made in a simple way.
Lawyers José Herrera, Franco Debono, Matthew Xuereb, Alexander Scerri Herrera and Martina Herrera were defence counsel.