Chechen refugee in Germany fined after sharing DW article on Islamic State

Mokhmad Abdurakhmanov is attempting to obtain asylum in Germany
When Mokhmad Abdurakhmanov, a Chechen refugee living in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, shared a DW article on his Facebook page last year, he never imagined he'd end up in legal trouble. But this week a court in Augsburg fined him €1,350 ($1,500) for two Facebook posts. One of them was a DW story detailing how fighters from the Islamic State group obtain weapons.
In March 2018, Abdurakhmanov shared the Russian version of the story that had originally been published on DW's German page in February that year. The article featured a third-party photo of a group of Islamic militants wielding assault rifles. "I don't know who supplied what and where, but those are Kalashnikov rifles in the photo," Abdurakhmanov wrote in his post.
The court took issue with the IS logos displayed on the black caps worn by two of the militants in the photo. Both the Islamic State and its insignia have been banned in Germany since 2014. At the same time the court had no claims against DW, which had inserted the picture in the article.
Guilty for propagating the IS logo
In addition to sharing the DW article, Abdurakhmanov was also fined for reposting two short videos of Israeli soldiers baiting a Palestinian boy with dogs. The video on Facebook is preceded by a warning that it might contain scenes of violence. Abdurakhmanov did not leave any comment beneath the video.
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