Natalie O'Brien | August 13, 2008
A SYDNEY man allegedly compiled a book advocating terrorist attacks including bombings, shooting down planes and assassinations of key US officials including George W Bush, a Supreme Court jury has been told.
The book, entitled Provision on the Rules of Jihad, contained sections that canvassed various methods of murder and terrorist attack including letterbombs, boobytrapping cars, kidnappings and poisonings, according to crown prosecutor Peter Neil SC.
Mr Neil, in his opening address in the case against Belal Khazaal, said the book listed a number of countries that were key targets for the attacks, including Australia.
It also included references to international terrorists including al-Qa'ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and talked about how “small cells” could cause havoc among Americans.
“Small groups can cause horror to the US and Jews alike,” Mr Neil told the jury was a quote from the book.
Mr Khazaal has pleaded not guilty to knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act and attempting to incite the commission of a terrorist act.
It is alleged the offences occurred between September and October 2003, in Sydney and elsewhere in the world.
However, Mr Khazaal's counsel told the jury the material was written by others and was freely available in the public domain.
The crown is alleging that using the non de plume Abu Mohamed Attawheedy, Mr Khazaal put together the book, which promoted violence against Christians, Jews and non-Muslims and had it posted on an internet site.
Nr Neil told the jury that Mr Khazaal did not use his own name and he did that deliberately to distance himself from his own document.
The book, a collection of articles written by other people, talks about successful assassinations of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and unsuccessful assassinations and why they failed.
Mr Khazaal's counsel George Thomas later told the jury the material used in the book produced by his client was “not his original creative work”.
He also said Mr Khazaal at no stage made any admission or confession about what his intention had been when he put the material together.
Mr Thomas said the book was “heavy reading” containing many footnotes, references to speeches, news articles and even to The Grand Encyclopedia Of Jihad.
He told the jurors they would undoubtedly conclude some of the material contained “extreme statements”, which he described as “unsavoury” and “against our sense of decency”.
If Mr Khazaal were the author, certain inferences might flow from some of the clearly more extreme material, he said.
“But if he is taking something written by somebody else and putting it together as some sort of compilation to create the book, then some different inferences might flow.”
Mr Thomas referred to the inherent biases everybody held, adding, “I don't even know why my client is wearing the thing on his head”.
“To me, it's odd, to him it is perfectly normal,” he said.
The case is continuing. Source: The Australian
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