Suspected Terrorist from Austria: Investigation into Mecca Attack Raises Questions

PeopleOther ♦ Published: February 2, 2025; 22:46 ♦ (Vindobona)

The Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) has announced that no suspicious data was found on the seized laptop belonging to Hasan E., a 20-year-old from Lower Austria who allegedly carried out a terrorist attack in Mecca in March 2024. At the same time, the authorities rejected accusations that errors were made in the investigation.

Neither suspicious nor incriminating materials were found in the laptop seized from the suspect allegedly responsible for the March 2024 terror attack in Mecca for religious-ideological reasons and who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia ever since. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons; Saudipics.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Hasan E., a young man from the district of Bruck an der Leitha, is suspected of having carried out a knife attack on five people in the area of the Al-Haram mosque in Mecca on March 11, 2024, for religious-ideological motives, as reported by Vindobona.org. Some of the victims were critically injured. The suspect was arrested on-site by Saudi security forces and has been in custody ever since. Domestic proceedings are being conducted against him in Austria, although his extradition is not foreseeable.

No incriminating data found on laptop

On January 7, 2025, Hasan E.'s laptop was seized and examined by the Austrian authorities. According to DSN, the device did not contain any relevant communication data or other indications of possible involvement in a terrorist network, as reported by the magazine News. The authorities announced that this did not lead to any further investigation.

In recent weeks, the DSN had been accused of not sufficiently monitoring Hasan E. and ignoring possible warning signals. Critics complained that the Austrian security authorities had not taken indications of a possible radicalization of the suspect and his environment seriously enough. The DSN has now firmly rejected these accusations and spoke of deliberate “disinformation and discrediting of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution”.

The agency emphasized that it had only been informed about Hasan E. by the Saudi authorities eleven days after the attack. Only then did the investigation begin, during which a total of 21 witnesses were questioned - most of them family members. None of the interviewees had given any indication that the 20-year-old had been radicalized.

Links to the Vienna Taylor Swift attack suspect

However, new findings from the investigation show, as reported by ORF, that Hasan E. had already been in close contact with Beran A., the main suspect in the foiled plans to attack a concert by US singer Taylor Swift in Vienna in the summer of 2024, since May 2023. The two are said to have spoken on the phone several times, with some conversations lasting over 50 minutes. The chats between them are also said to have been about detailed attack plans and violent extremist fantasies. Investigators assume that Hasan E., Beran A., and another suspect agreed in February 2024 to carry out three simultaneous attacks in Mecca, Dubai, and Istanbul. While the attack in Mecca took place, the other two attacks failed to materialize for unexplained reasons.

Technical investigation problems and legal limits

The Austrian security authorities had no access to Hasan E.'s cell phone as it had been confiscated by the Saudi security forces. Without physical control of the device, connection data could not be analyzed. In addition, his laptop was initially not seized as the responsible public prosecutor decided not to do so - partly because relatives stated that the device had not been used for months.

It was only when Beran A. was arrested in August 2024 and his 41 seized cell phones were analyzed that the contact between the two suspects became clear. The DSN emphasizes that this intensive investigative work made it possible to thwart a dangerous attack in Austria. The investigations are continuing and are being carried out in close cooperation with the public prosecutor's office.

Uncertain future of Hasan E.

It remains unclear what will happen to Hasan E. . According to ORF, he has been transferred to another Saudi prison following a suicide attempt. A delegation from the Austrian embassy in Riyadh last visited him in September 2024 on his birthday. It is uncertain whether there has been any sign of life from him since then. The Austrian Foreign Ministry refers to the ongoing consular support but does not comment on details.

Investigations are continuing in Saudi Arabia, albeit in strict secrecy. Whether Hasan E. will one day be extradited to Austria also remains questionable. If he is convicted, he could face a long prison sentence or possibly even the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the Austrian authorities are continuing their investigations into his network. It is clear that the close cooperation between national and international security authorities has prevented attacks. Nevertheless, the findings to date raise questions, particularly with regard to possible failures in the surveillance of radicalized individuals.

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