Seon for two and a half years in prison, two Brazilian brothers in Estepona for their link with the Islamic State | Spain

The National Court He has sentenced two brothers of Brazilian nationality and residents in prison in prison and residents of Estepona (Málaga, 74,493 inhabitants) for the crimes of self -adoctrination and terrorist autocation, in addition to another five years of freedom monitored. Their names are Felipe, 33, and Benjamin, 30 and both have recognized that after forming « they were willing to go to action » following the call of the self -denominated Islamic State « to the individual jihad », according to the sentence, signed earlier this year. Both carry in prison since their arrest, by the Civil Guard, in November 2023, During an operation called Male in which the US FBI and agents of the Brazilian Federal Police also collaborated.

At the beginning of 2023, the Spanish security forces were aware of the existence of two people in Estepona, originating in Brazil, who had caught the attention of the Muslim community in which they moved because they practiced their faith in a very orthodox way. When the Civil Guard He began his inquiries, he discovered that both had already been investigated for their relationship with radical Islamist movements and that they still had a presence in groups and propaganda distribution channels of the Islamic state, also known terrorist organization with Daesh by its acronym in Arabic. The follow -up made to the two brothers allowed to know that on November 14, 2023 one of them, Felipe, who had turned to Islam in 2015, sent an email to a woman in which she said goodbye to her: « This will have to be our goodbye. I can not say much, but ask Allah to accept me as one of her martyrs. No one made me choose this, it has been my choice. And I am glad. »

The two had changed their routines those days And, therefore, the agents thought they could act soon, so they were held ten days later of that letter. After being brought to court, they entered prison. On January 24, the trial was held in which both appeared from jail. They did it to recognize the facts and express their compliance with the penalty of two and a half years, an agreement that the Fiscal Ministry had submitted that same day after reaching an agreement with the defenses.

The proven facts include that Felipe, known as the wasp and mouse was extradited to Brazil from Portugal after being supposedly involved in the murder of a person. He spent time in jail waiting to be judged. It was a period that he took « as a form of punishment for his religion » and in which, in addition, he began to have contact with other prisoners related to crimes of terrorism. « These facts, together with the possession of archives edited by the Daesh terrorist organization and access to propaganda products, highlight the deep process of experienced radicalization » by this man, according to the National Court, which does not doubt that he was willing to die for his religion. It is striking to the court, in addition, that of the 32 passwords recovered from its mobile, until 19 are a combination of the date of the Al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York. Both in his terminal and in his brother’s, in addition, there were photos of both with jihadist attire and weapons of war.

Library on martyrdom

The Brazilian wanted to travel to a conflict zone to meet his goal, but first he wanted to know Islam better and, in addition, prepare physically. Therefore, he began to go daily to a gym in Estepona to train in combat techniques and is interested in paramilitary training with firearms. In fact, he analyzed the possibility of traveling to Albania and studied an explosive creation manual. In total, he had a thousand jihadist content « especially indicated for indoctrination and technical and ideological training, » according to the sentence, which indicates that many shared them with their younger brother « had a whole true library of doctrinal content about martyrdom, » adds the document. In fact, Benjamin – who used the alias of a millionaire, left -handed, pirate or buccanero – also went to the gym, formed in the use of firearms. The youngest of the brothers, who was being radicalized, also considered the practice of jihad (the holy war) « as an obligation to Muslims. » In parallel, both maintained a relatively normal life, working one in construction and another in the pool sector.

While they were following the track, the Civil Guard agents knew the digital letter that one of them had sent to a woman saying goodbye before becoming a martyr. The email ended up saying that « there is no need to answer, since there will be no time to see the answer. » It was the trigger for the investigation to accelerate and arrest both brothers, who since then are in prison. There are also many of the 38 people arrested in the first three months in Spain accused of different crimes related to jihadismaccording to data from the Ministry of Interior.