He was feared in Iraq, but in Vienna he is on the loose: 31-year-old Yasir M. S. used to act as a secret agent of the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) and therefore had to serve a prison sentence of several years in Austria. After his early release in April 2021, he was able to successfully prevent his deportation – thanks to a decision by the Federal Administrative Court. A native Iraqi who caught sight of Yasir walking around in public could not believe his eyes: “I can’t believe that he is at large here again,” he told eXXpress shocked.
In Iraq, Yasir was determined to take part in the establishment of a totalitarian Islamic state under the IS. His “radical religious” attitude was the decisive factor, as the domestic authorities state. Yasir put himself in the service of the IS as a spy. Soon, not even his own relatives were safe from him.
Yasir M. S. spied on his compatriots and reported anyone who did not behave according to IS rules. A life that did not conform to Sharia law or a belief not represented by the IS were reason enough for Yasir to be reported to the terrorist organisation’s henchmen. The consequences for the individuals – “infidels” in the eyes of the IS – were horrific. They ranged from torture and whippings to public executions. Yasir is said to have even betrayed family members to the IS, as Iraqis reported.
In summer 2015, Yasir travelled to Turkey and from there, with the help of smugglers, via Hungary to Austria. He applied for asylum under a false name, claiming that he was being threatened by Shiite militias who would kill all Sunnis for no reason. He did not renounce his convictions in Austria. A cousin, who was in Finland at the time, was threatened by Yasir on the phone: he would murder him including his wife and children, he told him on the phone. Yasir told another cousin in Iraq that he would mutilate him and his two brothers.
In November 2016, Yasir M. S. was arrested after other Iraqis in a Graz asylum shelter exposed him as an IS supporter. In November 2017, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for membership of a terrorist organisation and making dangerous threats; the sentence was later reduced to six years and eight months following Yasir’s appeal.
The trial took place under the highest security precautions. At the start of the trial, the judge spoke of a “highly explosive trial”: “Hardly any witnesses wanted to attend voluntarily”. The witnesses were in great fear for themselves and their relatives. Some “suddenly went blind and did not come to testify”, the judge reported. Separately from the accused, one witness described how Yasir M. S. betrayed and blackmailed people: “He betrayed policemen in Iraq. They were all kidnapped by IS and killed.” Evidence from the internet further proved that the Iraqi government was searching for Yasir M. S. because of his membership in the IS.
Yasir was released from detention early in April 2021. His asylum status was revoked and his deportation was already planned. Because he is “a danger to the security of the Republic of Austria”, he is “excluded from being granted the status of person entitled to asylum”, stated the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum. But things turned out differently: Yasir appealed against his deportation – with success: the Federal Administrative Court decided to “tolerate” his stay for another year. The reason: because of his activities for the IS, Yasir would not face a fair trial in Iraq, as well as torture and other ill-treatment.
At the same time, the court confirmed that Yasir had “lost his right to stay in the federal territory”. The stay of tolerated persons is still illegal, the obligation to leave the country remains in force – only there is an obstacle to deportation. Anyone who has fought for the IS or, like Yasir M.S., has contributed to the “functioning of the structures of the IS”, as the court itself states, cannot be deported according to this argumentation.
The Iraqi who saw Yasir in Vienna is still stunned: “People are still afraid of him. He has committed serious crimes.”
https://exxpress.at/verurteilter-is-geheimagent-laeuft-in-wien-frei-herum/