Four men jailed and expelled for arson attack on NGO

A Copenhagen court has sentenced four men to prison and ordered their permanent expulsion from Denmark for an arson attack on the offices of the NGO Global Action in the Nørrebro district.

The attack occurred in January last year when two men set fire to the organisation’s premises and placed a Yugoslavian hand grenade on the doorstep. No one was injured, but the fire caused extensive damage.

The 21-year-old Somali national Sudeysi Abdulgadir Ahmed Dini received an eight-year sentence, while 20-year-old British citizen Azeem Mahmood was jailed for eight years and three months. Both were found guilty last week of endangering lives through arson.

A third man, 28-year-old Turkish national Tuncay Akdeniz, was sentenced to four years and six months for supplying the hand grenade to Mahmood, though he was acquitted of involvement in the arson itself.

The fourth defendant, 33-year-old Mir Zohaib Lopez Burgos Hussain, received eight years and six months for possessing five hand grenates, one of which was used in the attack. He was also convicted of drug possession and involvement in the banned Loyal to Familia gang.

All four will be permanently expelled from Denmark. They have 14 days to decide whether to appeal.

Global Action is an NGO focused on global inequality, with a recent emphasis on the Western Sahara conflict. Slogans including “Stop support terrorism” and “Sahara belong to Morocco” were spray-painted outside the building. Investigators found a note with these phrases on Dini’s phone.

The court described the attack as a coordinated effort, possibly carried out to order.