Arid Uka

Arid Uka^[a] (born 8 February 1990) is a Muslim Kosovo Albanian from Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. On 2 March 2011, he murdered two U.S. airmen and severely wounded two others at Frankfurt Airport. This incident is considered to be the first successful assassination in Germany with an Islamist background.^[1][2][3][4]

Background

Since 1991, Uka has lived in Germany, where his family settled for four decades. His grandfather is a Kosovo-Albanian imam, while his parents and two brothers are considered to have a secular lifestyle.^[5][6] It was reported that Uka prayed five times a day, and when he was working for Deutsche Post at Frankfurt Airport, he was prompted not to pray during his shift.

He was described as an excellent pupil in school, but had frequent absences due to psychological problems. In 2005, his class was invited to the German Chancellery in Berlin when they won a prize for a school project about violence prevention in society. On the occasion, a photo was made which shows Uka next to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.^[7] Uka left school before his university-entrance diploma, but didn't tell his family. Instead, he told them that he had finished the diploma successfully. His family members, former friends, and one of his employers described him as introverted, polite, and not aggressive. Months before the shooting, Uka broke ties to all his friends and retreated. During this time, he was extensively surfing the web visiting websites with jihadist content.^[8]

Contacts

Via the internet, Uka managed to establish contact with Sheik Abdellatif of the so-called Da'wa group, who preached in two mosques in Frankfurt. The Salafi mosque of these two is considered as a meeting-point for radical Islamists. Several well-known Islamists have been seen there.^[9]

Shooting

Shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"), Uka fired with a pistol on unarmed United States Air Force airmen and the driver of an Air Force bus that was waiting at a terminal of Frankfurt Airport.^{[10][11][12][13]} The bus was a shuttle service for U.S. soldiers who were formerly stationed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom and intended to be forwarded to Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The first airmen had already boarded the bus, while others still waited to do so. Uka first shot an airman in the back of the head as he climbed the bus stairs, and then the bus driver behind the steering wheel after screaming, "Allahu Akbar"; both shooting victims died.^[14] The victims are Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, and Airman 1st Class Zachary Cuddeback, 21.^[15] Uka next entered the bus and fired at other passengers, severely wounding two. Then, as he was about to shoot Sergeant Trevor Donald Brewer, who was trying to cover himself between seat rows, his pistol jammed. Uka left the bus and tried to flee inside a terminal, but he was pursed by Brewer and an American airport employee, Lamar Joseph Conner. Inside the terminal, German Bundespolizei was able to catch the assassin. Brewer and Conner later were honoured with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Motivations

According to investigations, the motivation for the shooting was a video on YouTube, which showed U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi Muslim women. Uka was convinced that the video was genuine, but it was revealed that the video was a clip taken from Redacted, an American movie based on the Mahmudiyah massacre. On the internet, Uka posted on several Islamist forums, later claiming that through the content and the discussions in these forums, he came to the belief that his Muslim fellows were in global war with the United States.^[20][21][22]

Trial

During Uka's trial, his defense lawyer described him as a non-typical violent criminal who is neither religiously motivated nor an Islamist terrorist, while the Attorney General of Germany named Uka as a single perpetrator, which was applied for a sentence of life imprisonment plus a finding of "exceptional gravity of guilt".^[23] The Hessian High Court (Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main) decided on 10 February 2012 to act on the applications filed by the Attorney General of Germany. Uka was sentenced to life imprisonment with the determination of an "exceptional gravity of guilt", which means that he will not be eligible for parole after having served fifteen years. His sentencing to a fine of more than three years in a German prison mandates that he will be deported to Kosovo after having served his term of imprisonment since he does not hold German citizenship.

Notes

References

External links

Audio on demand

• Ich wollte mich rächen. In: Hessischer Rundfunk, 10. Februar 2012 (3:00 Min.) hr-online.de (German)

Video on demand

• Der Fall Arid Uka. In: Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cosmo, 15. Januar 2012 (7:14 Min.) wdr.de (German)
• Arid U. – Unbemerkte Radikalisierung. Im: ZDF, 10. Februar 2012 (2:56 Min.) zdf.de (German)

Alleged militants in the War on Terror who have lived in Germany Deceased persons listed in italics. Alleged al-Qaeda / al-Jihad members Mohammed Haydar Zammar Christian Ganczarski Hamburg cell (September 11 attacks) Mohamed Atta Marwan al-Shehhi Ziad Jarrah Ramzi bin al-Shibh Said Bahaji Zakariya Essabar Mounir el-Motassadeq Held in Guantanamo Bay Murat Kurnaz Ramzi bin al-Shibh Wrongly accused Murat Kurnaz Khalid El-Masri Gholam Ghaus Z. Abdelghani Mzoudi 2006 train-bombing plot Youssef Mohamad El Hajdib Jihad Hamad 2007 bomb plot Fritz Gelowicz Daniel Schneider Adem Yilmaz 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting Arid Uka 1 Currently imprisoned.   2 Released after serving sentence.