'Jihadi' Abdullah Khan is first person to be convicted of an Islamist attack in Ireland

Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Woods said An Garda Síochána remains 'exceptionally alert' to the threat from terrorism and violent political extremism

Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Woods speaking to the media outside the Special Criminal Court in Dublin after Abdullah Khan was jailed for for six-and-a-half years. Picture: Damien Eagers/PA

The sentencing on Monday of Abdullah Khan marks an unwelcome, but long-expected, milestone.

The 24-year-old is the first person to be convicted in an Irish court for an Islamist terror attack in Ireland under terrorist legislation.

But it is just one of three Islamist-inspired attacks that happened in little over two years, in a country that has never experienced them before.

Gardaí still investigating Khan associates

The potential threat is not yet over in Khan’s case as detectives from the Garda Special Detective Unit — the force’s counter-terrorism squad — is still investigating people around him.

On Monday the Special Criminal Court handed down sentences for eight charges against Khan, in relation to two separate attacks.

The first was a planned arson attack on the Black Forge Inn in Drimnagh, Dublin, owned by Conor McGregor, on July 25, 2025.

Khan told Special Detective Unit (SDU) detectives that he wanted to “send a message” to McGregor not to insult the Islamic prophet Muhammed.

He said in interviews he was also angry at the Irish State for allowing McGregor to insult the prophet — and that, as a result, he decided to carry out a second attack, this time against gardaí.

Ms Justice Karen O’Connor, presiding at the three-judge court, said footage of the attack made “very disturbing viewing”.

She said Garda Gary Lynch and Garda Patrick Nevin were on patrol, walking slowly up the street, when in an “unprovoked” attack, Khan came up behind them and stabbed Gda Lynch repeatedly in his right arm.

She said the garda had no opportunity to defend himself.

In interviews, Khan said he was motivated by a “radical Islamic religion” and described himself as a “Salafi jihadi”. Detective Inspector Gavin Ross, the lead investigator in the case, previously told the court that 'Salafi' Islam was a “puritanical” version of the religion and was adopted by the murderous Islamic State — or Isis — regime.

Khan, from a Pakistani background, told gardaí that at age 18-19 he started radicalising and that it got “progressively stronger”.

He became a follower online of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, founder of Isis, who had been killed in 2006. He found the leader to be “charismatic” and said his messages resonated with him.

Acknowledging the serious injuries suffered by Garda Lynch, and the continuing impact of them, Ms Justice O’Connor said that were it not for the professional response of the gardaí and the assistance from a member of the public in wrestling Khan to the ground, the incident “could have ended in a more serious way”.

Speaking outside the court, the head of the SDU, Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Woods, said the case, and other recent cases, clearly highlight the “need for vigilance to the dangers of extreme ideologies”.

He said An Garda Síochána remains “exceptionally alert” to the threat from terrorism and violent political extremism.

Det Chief Supt Woods also said the SDU is working with Garda Security & Intelligence and the National Community Policing Unit, and local gardaí, to make “early interventions and disrupt potential risks” where any radicalisation is identified.

He added: “The Khan case clearly highlights the daily dangers which members of AGS are exposed” and he commended their bravery and resilience.

• Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent