Terrorism recruiter jailed for 10 years

A 33-year-old man has been jailed for ten years after pleading guilty to terrorism charges, making it the first case on terrorism propaganda and incitement to be decided by a local court.

Mouhamadou Dosso, who holds an Ivorian passport and an Italian identity card, was accused of spreading extremist material and attempting to recruit people in Europe to carry out terrorist attacks.

He was arraigned in November 2024 after the police received a tip-off about a Facebook profile spreading extremist material in April that year.

Dosso was placed under surveillance once investigators established he was behind the profile.

Police inspector Mohammed Shurrab had told the Magistrates' court that five mobile phones were seized from Dosso during a dawn raid in Ħamrun on October 31, 2024.

Various Facebook messenger accounts found on Dosso’s phone were allegedly used to recruit people for terror-related activities.

The inspector had said the accused encouraged “vulnerable people” around Europe to carry out terrorist attacks. The people being recruited appeared to be asylum seekers who lived alone and had left war-torn countries.

Dosso communicated with them via Facebook. In one message read out in court, he told an unnamed individual that he would find a place in heaven if he carried out a suicide attack.

“We are recruiting volunteers to the jihad. If you die in this fight you will go to heaven,” the message said.

“Anti-West” material was found on his phones, including pictures of “crossed out” American, French and Israeli flags. There were also lots of photos linked to the terrorist group ISIS, and various speeches by ISIS leaders seeking to radicalise people, the inspector said.

Photos of explosives as well as a photo of one of the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks in New York were also found.

Dosso pleaded guilty to the charges on July 30, 2025 before the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Inquiry. He faced up to life imprisonment.

A joint application was filed by the AG and the accused in which it was requested that Dosso be sentenced to ten years in prison.

The Criminal Court in its considerations noted that the accused had pleaded guilty at a not-so-early stage but before the Bill of Indictment was issued and before the prosecution concluded its evidence.

It also took into consideration the serious nature of the offences and the circumstances of the case including the considerable amount of extremist material that was shared by the accused and the fact that Dosso had approached several people to recruit them for terroristic activities.   The court upheld the plea bargaining agreement and jailed Dosso for ten years on Wednesday afternoon.

It also ordered him to pay €9,631.16 in court expenses within 12 months.

The court also ordered the confiscation used in committing the crimes and solicited the police to ask internet service providers that hosted the terroristic material online to remove it.

Madam Justice Natasha Galea Sciberras presided over the Criminal Court.

AG lawyers Mauro Abela and Dejan Darmanin prosecuted.

Lawyer Nicholas Mifsud appeared for Dosso.