Camille Naredo

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives to attend the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. Angela Weiss, AFP/File

US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives to attend the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

Article (news)

MTV Video Music Awards

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1777394475349AFP__20240911__36FX3BL__v1__Preview__UsEntertainmentMusicAwardMtvArrivals.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives to attend the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. Angela Weiss, AFP/File" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives to attend the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. <em>Angela Weiss, AFP/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>VIENNA, Austria -- A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in an Austrian court over a jihadist plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, which led to the cancellation of the Vienna leg of the US megastar&#x27;s &quot;Eras&quot; tour.</p><p>Three dates in Swift&#x27;s record-breaking tour were cancelled in the summer of 2024 after authorities warned of the alleged Islamic State group plot.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/8/8/taylor-swift-s-vienna-shows-cancelled-after-is-sympathiser-arrest-910">FROM 2024: Taylor Swift&#x27;s Vienna shows cancelled after IS sympathizer arrest</a></div><p>The accused, named as Beran A., was led into the courtroom by masked police personnel at the start of his trial on terror offences and other charges in a court in Wiener Neustadt, outside Vienna.</p><p>&quot;He pleads guilty to all except attempted murder,&quot; his lawyer Anna Mair told AFP.</p><p>Another 21-year-old, Arda K., is standing trial together with Beran A., according to Austrian news agency APA.</p><p>The duo, together with a third Austrian, Hasan E., imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, are accused of forming a &quot;highly dangerous IS terror cell&quot; planning to carry out several attacks in the name of IS, prosecutors say.</p><p>Beran A. was allegedly planning an attack at the packed Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna during Swift&#x27;s concert.</p><p>He testified in court that he had not yet devised a clear plan for the attack before he was arrested in August 2024, two days before the show.</p><p>The Austrian has been in detention since his arrest.</p><p>Planning the attack on the concert, he allegedly tried to get weapons and worked on making a shrapnel bomb &quot;specific to IS attacks&quot;, and received instructions from other IS members on handling explosives, according to prosecutors.</p><p>In his testimony, Beran A. said he had become convinced that he &quot;had to wage jihad&quot;, but was &quot;afraid to die&quot;, according to APA.</p><p>He said he failed to make a bomb, but communicated in several chat groups, including with a high-ranking IS member ahead of the concert.</p><p>&quot;I was looking for encouragement. I liked getting attention,&quot; he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Attack plans abroad -</strong></div><p>Beran A. is accused of having been a member of a terror organisation from May 2023 &quot;by planning and preparing a terrorist attack&quot; on Swift&#x27;s concert, prosecutors have said.</p><p>By sharing IS propaganda through various messaging services and other offences, he participated and &quot;openly aligned himself&quot; with IS, they added.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/8/9/is-suspect-planned-suicide-attack-at-taylor-swift-vienna-concert-830">READ: IS suspect planned suicide attack at Taylor Swift Vienna concert</a></div><p>He is also alleged to have been involved in other attack plans abroad.</p><p>In court, he testified how he travelled to Dubai and bought two knifes to target security officials in March 2024.</p><p>But when he looked for a police officer or soldier to stab, he suffered a &quot;panic attack&quot; and finally &quot;retreated&quot;, feeling a &quot;sense of failure&quot;, he said.</p><p>Hasan E., the suspect jailed in Saudi Arabia, is accused of stabbing a security official in Mecca in 2024 and injuring four others before he was overpowered.</p><p>Austria&#x27;s embassy is in contact with him and following ongoing judicial proceedings, according to the foreign ministry.</p><p>Beran A. and Arda K. are accused of encouraging Hasan E. ahead of the attack -- an accusation Beran A. denies, his lawyer said.</p><p>She said in court that Hasan E. &quot;manipulated&quot; Beran A. The two became friends during their studies in a Vienna business academy.</p><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>- Thwarted plot -</strong></div><p>The trial of the two defendants has been scheduled across four court dates, until May 21.</p><p>Beran A., who was arrested two days before the first Swift concert was to take place, faces up to 20 years in prison on the charges.</p><p>The concert plot was thwarted with the help of US intelligence.</p><p>Swift later wrote on social media that &quot;the reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows&quot;.</p><p>Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert.</p><p>The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6snM2dsrq1U?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in an Austrian court over a jihadist plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, which led to the cancellation of the Vienna leg of the US megastar's "Eras" tour.</p>

A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in an Austrian court over a jihadist plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert, which led to the cancellation of the Vienna leg of the US megastar's "Eras" tour.

Man pleads guilty to plotting attack on Taylor Swift concert

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Man pleads guilty to plotting attack on Taylor Swift concert

Julia Zappei,

Agence France-Presse

Published April 29, 2026 01:08 AM PHT

Read More:

Vienna

Taylor Swift

Eras tour

jihadist plot

Islamic State

terrorism

Austria

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