Adelaide student Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif found guilty of joining terrorist group Islamic State
FORMER nursing student Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif has been found guilty of being a member of Islamic State in South Australia’s first terrorism trial.
- The prosecution case: $170 and a one-way ticket to Turkey
- Jury shown gruesome videos of terrorist propaganda
- The defence case: Jurors told to be sceptical of prosecution ‘spin’
FORMER nursing student Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif has been found guilty of being a member of Islamic State in South Australia’s first terrorism trial.
After just over three hours of deliberation on Monday, a Supreme Court jury convicted the 23-year-old of the charge.
They had commenced their deliberations just before 1pm, when Justice David Peek finished his summing up of both the prosecution and defence cases.
Following the verdict, defence counsel asked for the case to be adjourned for six weeks to obtain reports about their client — but Justice Peek warned that might be insufficient.
He said that should Abdirahman-Khalif express to the report authors any views different to her pro-IS stance in the evidence, it would likely require her to take the witness stand and give evidence under oath.
Justice Peek remanded Abdirahman-Khalif in custody, to face sentencing submissions at a later date.
Neither Abdirahman-Khalif nor her large group of family and supports showed any visible or audible reaction to the verdict.
Outside court, however, the supporters became agitated. Asked how Abdirahman-Khalif felt about the verdict, a woman replied: “You ask her, don’t ask me, I’m not Zainab. You get paid, you go and ask — why would I say something?”
Abdirahman-Khalif’s solicitors later spoke with her in the cells, where she instructed them to file an appeal against the jury’s verdict.
Abdirahman-Khalif, of Mansfield Park, pleaded not guilty to one count of being a member of a terrorist organisation between 2016 and 2017.
At trial, prosecutors alleged she was in contact with a three-woman terror cell in Kenya that staged an attack on a police station.
They further alleged she tried to leave SA for Turkey, without her family’s knowledge and with just hand luggage and $170, to join the organisation.
During the trial, the court heard she had IS propaganda videos, including beheadings, on her phone — experts could not, however, prove she deliberately downloaded that material.
It also heard Abdirahman-Khalif texted another person saying it was her “destiny” to be in Adelaide because there were few other “Muwahideen” — or followers of IS’s ideals — in the state, “just me”.
Jurors were played recordings that allegedly captured Abdirahman-Khalif singing pro-IS songs and swearing an oath of loyalty to the group.
They also watched videos of her interviews with authorities, during which she said it was a “coincidence” she had the phone numbers of known IS terrorists.
In his closing address, prosecutor Chris Winneke SC urged jurors to put aside emotional reactions — both positive and negative — and hand down a verdict based on the evidence.
Defence barrister Bill Boucaut SC warned jurors not to be “overawed” by the “spin” put upon the evidence by the prosecutors.
He said his client’s actions could be explained just as easily by a “stupid, childish and impulsive” decision by a woman who is not “worldly” to “choof off” overseas without her parents’ knowledge.
Damning trail of evidence
JULY 14, 2016: Abdirahman-Khalif allegedly tries to leave for Turkey on a one-way ticket but is stopped at Adelaide Airport.
JULY 14, 2016 - MAY 23, 2017: Abdirahman-Khalif swears allegiance to IS, frequents the terror group’s message boards and downloads its propaganda on her phone.
MAY 23, 2017: Abdirahman-Khalif is arrested by Australian Federal Police at the TAFE SA campus in Port Adelaide.
JUNE 23, 2017: She is denied bail by the Adelaide Magistrates Court but flags a Supreme Court review.
JULY 10, 2017: Supreme Court Justice David Lovell also rejects her bid for bail.
NOVEMBER 15, 2017: Abdirahman-Khalif pleads not guilty to knowingly and intentionally being a member of IS between July 14, 2016, and May 23, 2017 after Adelaide Magistrates Court refuses her bid to have the case dismissed.
JUNE 27, 2018: Longstanding suppression orders on Abdirahman-Khalif’s identity are revoked during a closed-court hearing.
AUGUST 28 - SEPTEMBER 17, 2018: Abdirahman-Khalif faces a Supreme Court jury, who are shown IS propaganda videos found on her phone and are told about conversations she had with others about being a “Muwahideen” — or a follower of IS’s ideals.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2018: A jury of five women and seven men takes three hours and five minutes to find Abdirahman-Khalif guilty of the offence.