Syrian refugee in Austria handed life sentence over ISIS-inspired knife attack

An Austrian court has sentenced an unrepentant 24-year-old Syrian Kurd refugee to life in prison over a jihadist knife attack that claimed the life of a teenage boy and wounded five.

“He said he was prepared to do it again at any time,” Christian Liebhauser-Karl, spokesman for the court in the southern city of Klagenfurt, tells AFP.

After his arrest, the man told police he regretted not having achieved his aim of killing at least 10 people and dying during the operation.

The verdict is not final, even though the convicted man has waived his right to appeal to the Supreme Court, as the public prosecutor’s office formally has three days to lodge an appeal.

On February 15, 2025, the refugee carried out the attack in the name of the Islamic State in Villach in southern Austria.

A 14-year-old boy died and five other passers-by under the age of 33 were injured.

The criminal court unanimously found him guilty of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and terrorist offenses.

Given his prior record, the element of surprise in his modus operandi, the presence of minors among the victims, his lack of remorse, the religious motive, and the risk of repeat attacks, the prosecution had asked the jury to make full use of the sentencing scale.

The man was granted asylum in Austria in 2020 to escape conscription, before rapidly becoming radicalized from 2024 onwards by watching videos on TikTok.

He pledged allegiance to IS two days before the attack.

During the attack, he was overpowered by a food delivery driver, also originally from Syria, who rammed him with his vehicle.

In 2020, another man claiming allegiance to IS opened fire in central Vienna, killing four people.