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.
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