Abdullah Khan given 6.5 years for stabbing garda and setting fire to  McGregor pub

Abdullah Khan has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years for stabbing a garda and setting fire to a Conor McGregor pub in July 2025.

A self-described Islamic jihadist has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years for stabbing a garda and setting fire to Conor McGregor's pub in July 2025.

Abdullah Khan, 24, is the first person to be convicted of an Islamist attack in Ireland under terrorist legislation.

He had pleaded guilty to eight charges, including assaulting Garda Gary Lynch - inflicting serious knife injuries - terrorist offences and an arson attack on the Black Forge Inn, in Drimnagh, south Dublin.

Sentencing at the Special Criminal Court today, Ms Justice Karen O'Connor said all sentences for his eight crimes will run at the same time.

The longest sentence he received - relating to terrorist activity in the assault causing harm to Gda Lynch - was seven-and-a-half years.

The final year was suspended.

With his sentences backdated to when Khan was taken into custody - 29 July 2025 - his sentence from today amounts to five years and three months.

He will also be entitled to standard prison one-quarter remission, suggesting he will spend just four more years in jail.

The Special Criminal Court previously heard that Khan shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) as he attacked two gardaí from behind as they walked along Capel Street on 29 July 2025.

Gda Lynch was just eight months into operational policing at time and remains on sick leave.

Ms Justice O'Connor, presiding over the three-judge court, said both the stabbing and the arson attack were premeditated and that the stabbing of a garda was a "serious aggravating" factor.

The judge said Gda Lynch was attacked from behind, had no opportunity of defending himself, and that Khan repeatedly attempted to continue stabbing him.

Ms Justice O'Connor said the court took into account Khan's early plea of guilty , the "extraordinary" level of cooperation regarding his crimes to gardaí and the absence of previous convictions.

She directed that Khan be subject to post-release supervision of four years by the Probation Service.

At a previous sitting, Detective Inspector Gavin Ross of the Special Detective Unit said Khan described himself as a “Salafi jihadi”, explaining that Salafism is a puritanical interpretation of Islam and a significant part of the ideology of Isis, the terrorist network also known as ‘Islamic State’.

The court also heard he is part of a "wider group of people of a like-minded mindset".

Khan's defence counsel, Michael Bowman SC, suggested that there may be others who are "operating in the shadows" and preferred to have Khan, who has a history of social isolation, depression and paranoia, operating in broad daylight.