Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 - Denmark

Overview: The Kingdom of Denmark (Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands) has devoted significant assets to counterterrorism programs, as well as to initiatives that seek to counter violent extremism in Denmark and abroad. Denmark remained a target of terrorist groups, including al-Qa'ida, due in part to the Jyllands-Posten cartoon crisis that began in 2005; however, no large-scale terrorist attacks have occurred within Denmark. In 2012 and 2013, a new trend arose of Danish citizens and residents of the Muslim faith voluntarily leaving Denmark to fight in Syria. Danish security services have focused on addressing this trend; there is concern that Danish fighters in Syria could be exposed to terrorist ideology and training before returning to Denmark.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Denmark continued to use its terrorism legislation from 2006, which allowed greater information sharing between the two agencies most involved in countering terrorist threats in Denmark -the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) and the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS).

Denmark's law enforcement agencies are skilled in proactively detecting, deterring, and preventing acts of terrorism on Danish territory. Security and law enforcement organizations have adequate information sharing, thanks to the Danish government's Center for Terror Analysis (CTA), which was established to share information between PET, DDIS, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Danish Emergency Management Agency. Denmark also has a national police force, to which all Danish police belong.

Denmark has a very competent and professional Customs and Tax Authority (SKAT). As a member of the Schengen Agreement, Denmark has open borders with its neighbors and there are no passport controls at the land borders or in the airport terminals servicing Schengen Visa area flights. As a member of the EU, Denmark abides by the EU's April 2012 passage of Passenger Name Record (PNR) legislation, which allows passenger names and information to be passed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with regulations to protect the privacy of European passengers.

Significant law enforcement actions against terrorists and terrorist groups, including proactive disruptions, arrests, and prosecutions:

• On March 25, two Somali-Danish brothers, aged 19 and 24, were sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in Denmark after being found guilty of financing terrorism as well as receiving training at an al-Shabaab training camp in Somalia.

• On May 14, Moroccan-born Danish citizen Said Mansour, known as "the Bookseller from Bronshoj," was arrested and charged with violating Denmark's terrorism laws. The arrest was in connection with police raids on the London home of Abu Qatada. At year's end, the case remained in the investigative stage and no trial date had been set. Mansour was previously sentenced in April 2007 to three-and-a-half years in prison for producing and distributing graphic videos encouraging participation in terrorist activities.

• On July 3, the Eastern Division of the Danish High Court (Ostre Landstret) found ROJ TV and Mesopotamia Broadcasting guilty of receiving support from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), and fined the companies US $860,000 each for broadcasting terrorism-related material from 2007 through 2010. This verdict, in response to ROJ TV's appeal of a 2012 conviction, also revoked the company's broadcasting license in Denmark. On September 25, Denmark's Supreme Court rejected ROJ TV's request for an appeal hearing for its conviction for promoting PKK-related terrorism; the court agreed, however, to hear an appeal of revocation of its broadcasting license. In a related case, a trial began in September of 11 Danish citizens of Kurdish origin charged with raising over $23 million for the PKK in Denmark over five years.

As of the end of 2013, Danish authorities announced they had identified 90 Danes who left Denmark in 2013 to fight in Syria for opposition groups, including known terrorist groups. In February, Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane, a Danish citizen and a former Guantanamo detainee (2001-2004), was killed fighting in Syria. In March, a Danish convert to Islam, Kenneth Sorensen, aka Abdul Malik, was also killed fighting in Syria.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Denmark is a member of the Financial Action Task Force, and cooperates closely with other Nordic financial intelligence units (FIU). In September 2012, Nordic countries' FIU representatives received training at PET's Headquarters in Denmark from the U.S. FBI's Terrorism and Financing Operations Section regarding disruption methods for terrorist financing; as a follow on, in June 2013, representatives from Denmark and other Nordic security services traveled to the United States to participate in additional terrorist financing training. For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: The Danish government is a founding member of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), and is committed to close cooperation with international organizations, particularly within the UN framework and through the EU, to ensure that it has both the capacity and the support to combat terrorism. Denmark actively participated in: the UN, the EU, the GCTF, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO, Interpol, Europol, the Middle Europe Conference, the Bern Club, and the EU Counterterrorism Group.

• On April 18-19, Denmark and Burkina Faso co-hosted a two day workshop, under the auspices of the GCTF, on terrorism prevention and countering violent extremism in West Africa and the Sahel. Workshop participants created an official action plan with 20 recommendations for governments, civil society, and the media in the region; Denmark presented the action plan at the GCTF's Sahel Region Capacity Building Working Group in Oran, Algeria on June 24-25.

• On September 23, the Danish government announced its new Peace and Stabilization Program for the Sahel, funded with $22 million. The fund targets projects where development and security interests overlap, such as in Mali and nearby countries. The program has three pillars: 1) support for dialogue and reconciliation; 2) security sector support; and 3) countering violent extremism and organized crime.

• The Danish government contributed to the French-led military intervention in Mali with limited personnel and air support.

Countering Radicalization to Violence and Violent Extremism: A government-funded mapping project, which seeks to map anti-democratic and violent extremist circles released the first of its working drafts to the public in September. In November, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration established a National Board for Social Affairs and Integration. The new board is a separate institution from the Ministry, but is under the guidance of the minister. It will focus solely on CVE issues through four structures: an advisory board of young adult volunteers to advise on and promote the board's projects; a formal network between municipalities and the national board that will meet every six months; an office to review and disseminate best practices to the municipalities; and formal international cooperation.

Danish communications efforts to counter terrorist propaganda are in the nascent stages. In June, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration hosted a one-day conference on addressing online radicalization for government and civil society representatives from Northern Europe and the United States.

PET remains the most active Danish government agency engaged in CVE work. PET officers routinely meet with municipalities on specific violent extremism cases under the broad framework of Denmark's SSP cooperation (a formal information sharing arrangement between schools, social workers, and police, formed in the 1970s as an anti-crime initiative). PET also continues to lead two CVE projects: prison mentoring and the "Dialogue Forum." While figures are not available on how many prisoners have participated in PET's prison mentoring program, PET has released a handbook for prison officials on how to spot violent extremism among prisoners. The PET's Dialogue Forum, held four times a year, is a roundtable meeting between PET and Denmark's Muslim community to discuss various issues related to violent extremism.