Syrian Man Gets 10 Year Sentence For Throwing Rocks At Border Police In Hungary

A Hungarian court on Wednesday found a Syrian man guilty of terrorism in a trial that Amnesty International has called an "alarming" application of anti-terrorism law. The court also convicted the man, Ahmed Hamed, of entering Hungary illegally and sentenced him to 10 years in prison and permanent expulsion from Hungary.

Both the prosecution and the defense intend to appeal the verdict, one seeking a stiffer sentence, the other an acquittal.

Hamed was arrested along with 10 other people in connection with a protest at the Hungarian-Serbian border on September 16, 2015, which resulted in the injury of over 100 civilians, many of them refugees, as well as 15 to 20 police officers.

The prosecution

Police witnesses said he threatened officers over a megaphone. They alleged that he demanded they open the border, which had been sealed only a day before, causing a pile-up of asylum seekers hoping to cross into Hungary, an EU members state, from Serbia.

They also said that he joined other protesters in throwing rocks at police.

Hamed claimed that he was not threatening police but attempting to communicate between police and protesters to defuse the situation. He also denied throwing rocks at police.

As a legal resident of Cyprus, Hamed could have legally crossed the border. He claims that he was there that day to help his Syrian family get into Europe, and was asked by other protesters to use the megaphone because he spoke English.