ISIS Militant Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison, Closing Case of Taylor Swift Concert Attack Plot

An Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison after he admitted to planning a failed attack on a concert by American singer Taylor Swift in 2024.

Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna in 2024 were cancelled after police uncovered a bomb plot inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS) that was intended to target one of the events.

The White House at the time announced that the United States had provided intelligence to Austria to help thwart a terrorist attack targeting Swift’s concerts.

After hours of deliberation, the jury found Austrian citizen Biran A. guilty of planning the attack and forming a cell linked to the Islamic State organization.

The judge subsequently sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

The trial of Biran A. began last month in Wiener Neustadt, outside Vienna, on terrorism-related charges and other offenses.

The defendant, who was arrested the day before the cancelled concert and has remained in custody since, pleaded guilty to all charges except being an accomplice to attempted murder.

Separately, Arda K. (21), who was tried alongside Biran A., was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Both verdicts remain subject to appeal.

Prosecutors said that Biran A., Arda K., and a third Austrian national, Hassan E., were accused of forming a “highly dangerous terrorist cell affiliated with ISIS,” planning multiple attacks, mostly abroad, in the name of the terrorist organization.

Hassan E. is currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for stabbing a security officer in Mecca in 2024 and injuring four others.

Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian minor of participating in the planning of the Taylor Swift concert attack. He was given an 18-month suspended sentence.