September 15, 2008
A MELBOURNE Muslim cleric has been found guilty of leading a terrorist organisation.
After almost four weeks of deliberation, jurors today found Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, guilty on all counts, including that of intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Five of Benbrika's followers have been found guilty of being members of a terrorist group, while four more were found not guilty of the charge.
The jury is yet to decide on the fate of two further people charged in the terrorism trial.
After a Supreme Court trial that ran for 115 days, jurors took three weeks and five days to reach a verdict.
The 12 men, who were arrested in 2005, were accused of planning terrorist acts in Melbourne, involving the detonation of an explosive or use of weapons.
Australia's biggest terror trial heard from more than 50 witnesses and was played thousands of hours of listening device material and telephone intercepts.
The jury heard Benbrika, 48, of Dallas, had told his followers it was “permissible to kill women, children and the aged” and that the group needed to kill at least 1000 non-believers to make the Australian government withdraw soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In April, prosecution witness Izzydeen Atik told the court Benbrika had told him of the targets in 2005.
“He said the AFL grand final was the original target,” Atik told the court.
When the plan to target the crowd of close to 100,000 on grand final day had to be shelved, the terrorists allegedly spoke about planning to attack Crown Casino during the 2006 Australian Formula One Grand Prix and a pre-season AFL game.
Earlier this month Justice Bernard Bongiorno warned jurors Atik was a liar and fraudster whose evidence against 12 alleged terrorists was unsafe.
“If you are considering Atik's evidence you must do so in the light of the cloud hanging over him,” Justice Bongiorno said.
In his opening address in February, prosecutor Richard Maidment SC spoke of a group that was exclusively Muslim and male, set up in Melbourne to carry out a violent jihad.
Defence lawyers argued the men were not terrorists, but young men learning about Islam from a self-styled sheikh who, “couldn't organise a booze-up in a brewery”.
Benbrika's lawyer Remy Van de Wiel said his client was an unworldly man who thought it was possible to drive to Tasmania.
more to come
A MELBOURNE Muslim cleric has been found guilty of leading a terrorist organisation.
After almost four weeks of deliberation, jurors today found Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, guilty on all counts, including that of intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Five of Benbrika's followers have been found guilty of being members of a terrorist group, while four more were found not guilty of the charge.
The jury is yet to decide on the fate of two further people charged in the terrorism trial.
After a Supreme Court trial that ran for 115 days, jurors took three weeks and five days to reach a verdict.
The 12 men, who were arrested in 2005, were accused of planning terrorist acts in Melbourne, involving the detonation of an explosive or use of weapons.
Australia's biggest terror trial heard from more than 50 witnesses and was played thousands of hours of listening device material and telephone intercepts.
The jury heard Benbrika, 48, of Dallas, had told his followers it was “permissible to kill women, children and the aged” and that the group needed to kill at least 1000 non-believers to make the Australian government withdraw soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In April, prosecution witness Izzydeen Atik told the court Benbrika had told him of the targets in 2005.
“He said the AFL grand final was the original target,” Atik told the court.
When the plan to target the crowd of close to 100,000 on grand final day had to be shelved, the terrorists allegedly spoke about planning to attack Crown Casino during the 2006 Australian Formula One Grand Prix and a pre-season AFL game.
Earlier this month Justice Bernard Bongiorno warned jurors Atik was a liar and fraudster whose evidence against 12 alleged terrorists was unsafe.
“If you are considering Atik's evidence you must do so in the light of the cloud hanging over him,” Justice Bongiorno said.
In his opening address in February, prosecutor Richard Maidment SC spoke of a group that was exclusively Muslim and male, set up in Melbourne to carry out a violent jihad.
Defence lawyers argued the men were not terrorists, but young men learning about Islam from a self-styled sheikh who, “couldn't organise a booze-up in a brewery”.
Benbrika's lawyer Remy Van de Wiel said his client was an unworldly man who thought it was possible to drive to Tasmania.
more to come
Source:The Australian
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