Homegrown terror cell guilty of plot against Australia

as posted here

Katelyn Catanzariti

October 16, 2009 11:00pm

THEY claimed the explosive chemicals found in their homes were for testing cosmetics or their children's science projects.

They said firearms, ammunition, night vision goggles, maps and radios were to be used on hunting trips in western NSW, while the compasses were so the devout Muslims knew the direction of Mecca at prayer time.

Trips to Melbourne to visit a notorious Islamic religious teacher were for marriage guidance and help with an "exorcism", they explained.

But after a 10-month trial, 300 witnesses, more than 3000 pieces of evidence, and almost five weeks of deliberations, a NSW Supreme Court jury has found five men from Sydney's southwest guilty of plotting violent jihad on Australian soil.

So-called group leaders Khaled Cheikho, 36, and Mohamed Ali Elomar, 44, together with Moustafa Cheikho, 32, Abdul Rakib Hasan, 40, and 25-year-old Mohammed Omar Jamal were accused of plotting with each other and at least four other men between July 2004 and November 2005.

Raids on the men's homes at the time of their arrests in 2005 revealed a stockpile of firearms and ammunition, chemicals, extremist literature and a "substantial amount" of camping equipment which the Crown said was "for lying low or disappearing either before, or immediately after the commission of a terrorist act".

A search of Elomar's house revealed 12 guns, including two high-powered rifles and a total of 28,000 rounds of ammunition – enough for one person to fire continuously for 38 hours, the court was told.

All five men pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to commit an act, or acts, in preparation for a terrorist act.

But yesterday the jury found them guilty of stockpiling the explosive chemicals and firearms with the intention of carrying out "extreme violence".

The four other men connected to the plot – Mazen Touma, Mirsad Mulahalilovic, Khaled Sharrouf and one man who cannot be named for legal reasons – pleaded guilty to acts in preparation for a terrorist act prior to the trial or earlier this year and have been sentenced.

Mulahalilovic was released in May this year after serving three and a half years for possessing ammunition in preparation for a terrorist act.

Sharrouf walked free from jail on Thursday, having served nearly four years for possessing six clocks and 140 batteries connected to the preparation for a terrorist act or acts.

Touma will not be released until May 2016, after being sentenced to ten and a half years, and the fourth man is due for release in November 2019 after serving 14 years, after both pleaded guilty to four charges relating to preparations for a terrorist act.

The jury had been told the men were devout Muslims driven by extremist beliefs to plot a violent jihad with the aim of terrifying the Australian public in retaliation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Each of these men were apparently strong adherents to the Islamic faith and were each motivated by a particular religious, political or ideological cause – being the pursuit of violent jihad – which each of the accused apparently believed was founded in the teachings of the Islamic faith," prosecutor Richard Maidment SC said as he opened his case in a Sydney court last November.

"In essence, that meant that the accused were motivated to carry out violent activities against members of the Australian community as a whole, in pursuit of their ideals."

Together the group had spent months working to acquire chemicals, firearms and ammunition, the jury was told.

Extremist literature and "instructional DVDs" about building home-made bombs and suicide bombers' belts found in their homes showed the men had violent intent, Mr Maidment said.

The group met regularly with Melbourne cleric Sheikh Bakr, who has previously described Osama bin Laden as "a great man" and who once said he would be betraying his religion if he told his students not to train as terrorists.

In his summing up to the jury, Justice Anthony Whealy said the Crown asserted the men had been influenced by the teachings of the mujahideen.

"You kill us, so we kill you. You bomb us, so we bomb you," the mujahideen's advice goes.

Mr Maidment said the literature glorified the actions of "notorious persons" such as bin Laden.

"They possessed large quantities of literature which supported indiscriminate killing, mass murder and martyrdom in pursuit of violent jihad, and which apparently sought to provide religious justification for conduct of that nature," Mr Maidment said.

They also possessed instructions for assembling home-made chemical bombs, as well as images of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.

The Crown submitted the men intended to influence, by intimidation, the Australian government's policy on the Middle East conflicts by using explosive devices or firearms to commit "extreme violence".

In March and April 2005 the men took hunting trips to two properties near Bourke in northwestern NSW.

Four years earlier it was revealed by The Courier-Mail that ASIO was investigating claims a property south of Canberra may have been used as a terror training camp – that property was owned by four of Elomar's brothers.

Mr Maidment said that while the various pieces of evidence might be circumstantial on their own, together they made up "a mosaic or jigsaw puzzle" or "factual matrix" that showed a terrorist plot was on the agenda – even though no direct reference to one was made.

"This isn't a case where there is a smoking gun," he said.

Lawyers for the five on trial maintained there were innocent explanations for much of the material relied on by the crown. They labelled the Crown case a "propagandist" bid based on misrepresentations .

Circumstantial or not, the jury found the evidence compelling enough to find all five men guilty. After the jury handed down its verdict, Justice Whealy thanked the five women and seven men for their "significant and unique achievement".

"If you really go through the case and the words in the brief, you'll know it's bullshit," the brother of Mohammed Omar Jamal said. "If they think this will stop terrorism, imprisoning these people, I don't think it will stop terrorism.

"I think it will increase the threat on Australia . . . when the people overseas, when they see this". A sentencing hearing for all five men will begin on December 14.

as posted here