Four Lebanese immigrants to Germany who had been accused of acting as Hamas operatives were convicted by a German court Wednesday on charges related to stockpiling weapons, possession of weapons of war, possession of firearms and membership in a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), with the ultimate aim of targeting Jewish institutions. The court also affirmed for the first time Hamas’ designation as an FTO.

The defendants were identified in a statement by Lisa Jani, spokesperson for the Berlin criminal courts, as Abdelhamid Al A., 47; Mohamed B., 36; Ibrahim El-R., 43; and Nazih R., 58.

“They were personally tasked by their contact in Lebanon, a high-ranking Hamas official, with locating the organization’s underground weapons caches in Poland, Denmark, and Bulgaria, inspecting the weapons stockpiles, and reburying them,” the statement said. “The Higher Regional Court based its decision on the extensive communication between the defendants, both amongst themselves and with their Hamas contact and other individuals, on the defendants’ statements during the main hearing, the evaluation of data storage devices, the analysis of publicly available Hamas material, the testimony of numerous witnesses, and the expert opinion of an Islamic scholar.”

The men were sentenced to four and a half to six years of prison time.

Regarding the affirmation of Hamas as an FTO, the statement said, “This ruling marks the first time a Higher Regional Court in Germany has determined that ‘Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya’ (Hamas) constitutes a foreign terrorist organization under the German Criminal Code.”

“The relevant criteria were already met before the Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed, numerous others injured and raped, and over 250 people were taken hostage and abducted,” it added.