Prosecutors charge juvenile over Taylor Swift Vienna concert terror plot

The suspect faces charges of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation

Taylor Swift performs at Wembley Stadium as part of her Eras Tour, June 21, 2024, in London (Invision/AP)

German prosecutors have charged a Syrian juvenile in connection with a foiled terror plot targeting a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year.

Identified as Mohammad A, the suspect faces charges of supporting a foreign terrorist organisation. According to a statement from the prosecutor general on Friday, he allegedly assisted the would-be attacker by translating Arabic bomb-building instructions and facilitating online contact with a member of the Islamic State militia.

Police made multiple arrests over a suspected plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in the Austrian capital's Ernst Happel Stadium, prompting the cancellation of all three of her shows there in August last year.

Austrian police officers watch swifts gathering in the city centre in Vienna on Thursday, Aug.8, 2024. Organizers of three Taylor Swift concerts in the stadium in Vienna this week called them off on Wednesday after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the Vienna area such as the concerts. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader) (AP)

"Mohammad A has adhered to the ideology of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) since April 2024 at the latest," the statement said.

"Between mid-July and August 2024, he was in contact with a young Austrian who was planning a bomb attack on a concert by singer Taylor Swift in Vienna."

Austria's coalition government earlier this month agreed on a plan to enable police to monitor suspects' secure messaging in order to thwart militant attacks, ending what security officials have said is a rare and dangerous blind spot for a European Union country.