Omar Succarieh in court today for sentencing on funding of foreign fighters

UPDATE: Omar Succarieh allegedly put his “religious convictions” above the law when he contributed more than $40,000 USD to family and associates fighting in Syria.

OMAR Succarieh allegedly put his “religious convictions” above the law when he contributed more than $40,000 USD to family and associates fighting in Syria.

Prosecutor Lincoln Crowley is outlining his submissions for Succarieh’s sentencing in the Brisbane Supreme Court on two charges of preparing for incursions into a foreign state and two counts of giving money for incursions into foreign state.

He has suggested Succarieh’s defence team’s submission of a three-year sentence on the charges is not long enough.

Logan Islamic bookshop owner Omar Succarieh will be sentenced today.

Mr Crowley said Succarieh was “a man seeking to have his finger on the pulse” when it came to the conflict in Syria.

“He believed it was his religious duty to do what he could ...,” he said.

“The defendant was willing to place his ideals and his religious convictions (above the law).”

Mr Crowley said Succcarieh was not willing or able to join the conflict, but instead “fought with money” and assisted an associate in his mission to travel to the war-torn country.

Justice Roslyn Atkinson quickly pointed out such beliefs were “very unusual in his community”, to which Mr Crowley replied he could be described as having a “fundamentalist view”.

The sentencing hearing continues.

EARLIER: Logan Islamic bookshop owner Omar Succarieh will be sentenced today on charges related to funding and arranging safe passage for people to fight in war-torn Syria.

It comes after terrorism charges against the 33-year-old were sensationally dropped last week.

He instead pleaded guilty to four charges including two counts of preparing for incursions into a foreign state and two counts of giving money for incursions into foreign state.

Succarieh made arrangements for an associate’s safe passage to Syria, and also provided money to his brother Abraham Succarieh, who is allegedly commanding a band of foreign fighters for terror group Jabhat al-Nusra.

The father-of-three’s other brother, Ahmed, is believed to be Australia’s first suicide bomber after he detonated a truck with explosives in Syria in 2013, killing 35 people.

Succarieh’s sentencing hearing is expected to last two days in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

He has been behind bars since he was arrested in counter-terrorism raids in September 2014.