Following on from the PJ’s crackdown on Grupo 1143 earlier this month – allegedly heading off a campaign it sought to wage against members of the immigrant community – leader Mário Machado has found himself in a much worse position.
A suspended jail sentence has been ‘unsuspended’, and added to the one he is already serving for incitement of hatred and violence – and he has been transferred to a maximum security jail which will see him under lock-and-key for 22 hours out of every 24, in a cell measuring just eight sq metres.
Lusa reports that Machado was transferred yesterday from Alcoentre prison (also described as maximum security, but close to the capital) to Paços de Ferreira (miles away in Porto district). His lawyer, José Manuel Castro, has repeated the assertion that he will be appealing everything that has taken place since the PJ raid, and the naming of his client as the ‘ringleader’ behind a plan to mount “a major attack against Portugal’s Islamic community”.
Indeed, Castro has largely ‘trashed’ the PJ account that “material relevant to (their) investigation” – indicating that he was coordinating plans for the attack from jail – was found in Machado’s cell. The defence lawyer says the material boiled down to a couple of t-shirts with the words ‘Grupo 1143’ written on them, and some publicity material.
But public prosecutors are sticking to their theory that Machado was orchestrating “two large actions with the objective of provoking negative and violent reactions by the Muslim community resident in Portugal”.
The first was scheduled for February, and was allegedly going to involve publishing, over social networks, of a video with a banner accusing Muhammed, a sacred figure in Islam, of being a pedophile.
This banner, say prosecutors, was among the ‘relevant material’ found during searches of Machado’s jail cell on January 20.
The second action was (allegedly) equally provocative: at a ceremony celebrating Portugal Day on June 10, the group was going to flourish a banner with the image of the Prophet “with a turban and a bomb”.
The case also lists around a dozen actions aimed at spreading far-right ideology carried out by Grupo1143 since February last year, with over social media or in the streets, targeting Muslim immigrants, demonstrations and an assault on two Indian citizens at a service area in Aveiras, on Motorway 1 (A1), on 5 October, 2025.
As for Mário Machado, his criminal actions go back to the 90s, since which time he has been in and out of prison.
Source: LUSA/ Wikipedia
