The chairman of the controversial Grimhøj Mosque in Aarhus, Denmark, Oussama El-Saadi, has been convicted, along with his cousin, of defrauding the authorities of 738,000 Danish kroner in social benefits. Despite receiving a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence, the Palestinian-born mosque leader will only have to serve three months. His cousin, with whom he has four children, will avoid prison entirely.

The Vestre Landsret court ruled on Friday that 57-year-old Oussama Mohamad El-Saadi was guilty of extensive benefit fraud against Danish authorities.

El-Saadi is the chairman of the Grimhøj Mosque in Brabrand just outside Aarhus, which has for many years been one of Denmark’s most controversial mosques. He was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, but only has to serve three months. The remaining 15 months are suspended.

His cousin, who is also his wife, was sentenced at the same time to one year and three months in prison. Her entire sentence is suspended, meaning she will not serve any time in prison at all.

Claimed to be single

The fraud, according to the court, was based on El-Saadi and the woman claiming to Udbetaling Danmark and Aarhus Municipality that they were single and living at separate addresses. In reality, according to the verdict, they lived together.

This arrangement, falsely registering as living apart in order to claim benefits one is not entitled to, is also common in certain immigrant groups in Sweden. At the same time, one rents out the other residence for a high price, gaining additional undeclared income on top of the benefits.

The two convicted are cousins but also have four children together. By falsely being registered as single and living apart, they were able to systematically collect social benefits over a period of four years to which they were not entitled. This included housing benefits and early retirement pension but, according to information from the initial trial, also child benefits and subsidized childcare.

A total of 738,000 Danish kroner was overpaid, equivalent to just over one million Swedish kronor. The money is now to be repaid to Aarhus Municipality and Udbetaling Danmark.

One of the prosecutor’s most notable pieces of evidence came from a police search of the woman’s apartment in Viby J. When the police arrived at 6:20 in the morning, they found El-Saadi sleeping in her bed.

Next to him was a connected oxygen machine, and in the residence were his clothes and prescription medicines. Meanwhile, the apartment where El-Saadi officially claimed to live was rented out to others.

The prosecution also presented bank statements and messages which, according to the prosecutor, showed that the couple vacationed and dined together and communicated about things like grocery shopping and collecting their children.

Denied – convicted again

El-Saadi and his cousin were already convicted in 2024 by the Aarhus district court to 15 months’ suspended prison each for the benefit fraud. El-Saadi was additionally convicted for a separate attempt at insurance fraud.

He had reported to the insurance company Topdanmark that a computer had been stolen from his car at the mosque and submitted an invoice which turned out to be fake. That attempt concerned 18,000 Danish kroner. This aspect of the verdict has also now been confirmed by the appellate court.

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The mosque chairman has continuously denied the accusations, hoping to be acquitted on appeal.

– I believe I am innocent. I am a person who makes sure to follow the rules. I have no interest in breaking the law, he told DR before the trial.

Prosecutor Casper Tobias Korkmaz had wanted to see a harsher sentence but said after the verdict that he was still satisfied with the outcome.

– It is our view that the verdict underscores that there are consequences when false information is submitted to authorities and social benefits are received without entitlement. That can only be positive, he told DR.

Controversial mosque with links to ISIS travelers

The Grimhøj Mosque has long been at the center of Danish debate about Islamism and radicalization. It has been a hub for recruiting ISIS terrorists and preaching about killing Jews.

Mosque representatives have spoken in support of an Islamic state and a caliphate, and El-Saadi himself has previously expressed support for the Islamic State (ISIS).

A 2015 DR documentary described how he said he hoped ISIS would be victorious and spoke positively about a future caliphate in the Middle East. He has later claimed he does not advocate for the establishment of such a caliphate in Denmark.

The mosque environment gained further attention after a large number of young men who had visited Grimhøj Mosque traveled to Syria and Iraq during the most intense years of the jihadist wars.

According to Danish police, 22 out of 27 people who traveled from the Gellerup area to the war in Syria and Iraq had visited the mosque. The mosque later participated in the so-called Aarhus Model, where authorities and local actors attempted to prevent further radicalization and departures to conflict zones.

The situation escalated to the point that in 2015, a proposal was made in the Danish Parliament to dissolve the organization behind the mosque. The parliamentary documentation referenced, among other things, ISIS sympathies, support for a caliphate, and statements from an imam associated with the mosque who, in a sermon in Berlin, called for the killing of Jews.

Stoning women

Danish TV2 also revealed, using hidden cameras, that an imam at Grimhøj Mosque, before a study group, spoke about various punishments under sharia law for Muslims. He stated, among other things, that women who commit adultery may be sentenced to stoning. He also mentioned the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

– If a married or divorced woman commits adultery, and she is not a virgin and commits adultery, then she should be stoned to death, said the imam when filmed with a hidden camera by TV2.

“Palestinian” migrant from Beirut – not being deported

Oussama El-Saadi has a “Palestinian” background and was born in Beirut, Lebanon. According to earlier Danish reports, he came to Denmark as a 22-year-old asylum seeker in 1990 and was among the early individuals to help establish activity around the Grimhøj Mosque.

When the first verdict was handed down in 2024, the case sparked political reactions in Aarhus. Representatives from the Social Democrats, Venstre, and the Denmark Democrats demanded stricter controls of social benefits and wanted to know how the fraud could have continued for several years.

After the appeal, it is now finally established in Vestre Landsret that both El-Saadi and his cousin are guilty of the systematic fraud. Despite the nominal sentence of one and a half years, the mosque chairman will serve only three months behind bars, while the cousin’s prison sentence is fully suspended. None of those convicted will be deported.

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