An Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison for planning a jihadist attack on a 
Taylor Swift concert in Vienna during her 2024 Eras Tour. The man, named only as Beran A under Austrian privacy law, was also found guilty of further terrorism offences, the BBC reported. He was arrested after a CIA tip-off shortly before the first of three sold-out shows at Vienna's Ernst Happel stadium, all of which were cancelled. He was tried in Wiener Neustadt, a city south of Vienna, alongside a second defendant accused of belonging to the same cell.
Prosecutors said Beran A had been radicalised and had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, and that he had tried but failed to buy weapons illegally, including a machine gun and a hand grenade. A court psychiatrist, Peter Hoffmann, found no signs of mental illness and "no psychiatric explanation" for the radicalisation, the BBC reported.
Swift had said the foiled plot left her with "a new sense of fear" and a "tremendous amount of guilt," and that the record-breaking tour had "dodged a massacre situation." The cancellation of all three sold-out shows in August 2024 dismayed almost 200,000 ticket-holders, and a tour documentary later showed the singer had learned of the plot while travelling to Austria. A second 21-year-old, named as Arda K and accused of belonging to the same IS cell but not involved in the concert plot, was sentenced to 12 years, the PBS NewsHour reported. Beran A told the court he was sorry before the jury retired to consider its verdicts.
Figures referenced: Taylor Swift. — JudgeMarket.
