Two Muslims face month detention on terror charges in Denmark

COPENHAGEN: Two of the nine men arrested by Danish police on suspicion of planning acts of terrorism were remanded in custody for four weeks, a Danish court said on Wednesday.

Judge Ingrid Therkelsen ruled that five others arrested yesterday were to be detained for 72 hours, judging that police lacked sufficient evidence to hold the men longer.

Two others who were arrested at the same time were released.

The two facing a month's detention were charged with planning terrorist acts in the months "leading up to September 5, 2006".

The seven were aged 18 to 33 and arrested during a police raid overnight on Tuesday in the heavily immigrant-populated neighbourhood of Vollsmose in the town of Odense, central Denmark, after a lengthy period of surveillance.

The closed hearing of the seven suspects lasted around 12 hours and ended at 0630 IST on Wednesday.

The identities of the detainees were not revealed, but all seven were Danish citizens, six of Palestinian or Iraqi origin. The seventh, an ethnic Dane, had converted to Islam. All were devout Muslims.

Abu Bashar, an imam in the Vollsmose neighbourhood who knows three of the suspects personally, yesterday said the arrests did not come as a surprise, and that he believed the alleged planned terrorist attacks were linked to Denmark's participation in the war in Iraq.