Five Muslim men were found guilty yesterday of plotting a jihadist attack using guns and explosives to protest Australia’s involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Prosecutors said the men gathered firearms, chemicals and bomb-making instructions from July 2004 to November 2005, but did not reveal the target of the planned attack.
The Sydney men, four of whom are of Lebanese descent and one who is of Bangladeshi origin, now face possible life sentences. The five, who cannot be named, range in age from 25 to 44.
They showed little reaction to the verdict after their 10-month trial — Australia’s longest terror proceedings.
However, there were angry scenes outside the purpose-built, high security court as their supporters scuffled with media.
“If they think this will stop terrorism, imprisoning these people, I don’t think it will stop terrorism,” a brother of one of the men said outside court. “I think it will increase the threat on Australia.”
Four other men pleaded guilty and earlier received sentences up to 18 years and eight months for taking part in the same plot.
Australia’s former conservative government was closely aligned to the policies of former US president George W. Bush, and the country was one of the first to commit troops to the Iraq and Afghan wars.
The five took Australia’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as “acts of aggression against the wider Muslim community,” prosecutor Richard Maidment told New South Wales Supreme Court earlier.
They spent months collecting chemicals, firearms and ammunition, and raids on their homes found “large quantities of literature which supported indiscriminate killing, mass murder and martyrdom in pursuit of violent jihad,” he said.
The men had pictures and videos showing the hijacked aircraft smashing into the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as beheadings and death on the battlefield, Maidment said.
They also had documents glorifying al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and showing how to make a pipe-bomb with common ingredients such as citric acid and hair bleach, he said.
The jury was shown more than 3,000 exhibits, heard from about 300 witnesses and spent more than 30 days dealing with surveillance material.
However, lawyers for the five accused said there were innocent explanations for much of the material and labeled the case “propagandist.”
The jury, which reached its verdict after 23 days of deliberations, was given a life exemption from further service.
“Special demands have been placed on your concentration. It has been my observation that you have acted with the utmost integrity and diligence,” Judge Anthony Whealy told jurors yesterday.
The outcome angered supporters of the men who were watching on a screen outside court. One man had to be restrained after clashing with two cameramen.
Sentencing hearings for the five will start on Dec. 14.
In August, another five men were charged with plotting a suicide attack on a Sydney army barracks.
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
NO CHANGES: A Japanese spokesperson said that Tokyo remains consistent and open for dialogue, while Beijing has canceled diplomatic engagements A Japanese official blasted China’s claims that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has altered Japan’s position on a Taiwan crisis as “entirely baseless,” calling for more dialogue to stop ties between Asia’s top economies from spiraling. China vowed to take resolute self-defense against Japan if it “dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait” in a letter delivered Friday to the UN. “I’m aware of this letter,” said Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokeswoman. “The claim our country has altered its position is entirely baseless,” she said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Chinese Ministry
RSS