A Danish court has sentenced four men to prison terms of 12 years for plotting a gun attack on a Danish newspaper in revenge for its publication in 2005 of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
The court in Glostrup, near Copenhagen, sentenced the men, one Tunisian and three Swedish citizens of Arab origin, for their part in what experts say is the most serious terrorist plot ever uncovered in Denmark.
It also ordered them to be expelled from Denmark after they serve their sentences and to pay the trial costs.
The men had pleaded not guilty to the charges, though one of them had pleaded guilty to illegal possession of weapons.
They were arrested in a joint Danish-Swedish police operation at the end of 2010, were found guilty on the main charge of terrorism.
They were acquitted on two charges of weapons possession for technical reasons, court officials said.
The convicted men were Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri, a Tunisian citizen, Munir Awad, a Swedish citizen born in Lebanon, Omar Abdalla Aboelazm, a Swedish citizen born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Egyptian father, and Sahbi Ben Mohamed Zalouti, a Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin.
Judge Katrine Eriksen told the court that the target of the planned attack was the offices of the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
The newspaper first published the dozen cartoons seven years ago. The judge said the men's goal was to kill as many people as possible there.
"The accused ... are guilty of terrorism, the judge said. "[They] agreed and prepared acts to kill people."
