Etihad plane meat grinder and Barbie bomb plot: Amer Khayyat denies being a terrorist
AN Australian man accused of trying to plant a bomb on an Etihad plane in Sydney in a meat grinder and Barbie doll has wept as he told a Beirut court of his innocence.
NSW
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AN Australian man accused of trying to plant a bomb on an Etihad plane at Sydney Airport has broken down in tears as he told a court in Lebanon he was not a terrorist.
Amer. Khayyat wept as he told a military tribunal in Beirut he was innocent, and found out on the news about the alleged plot to put a bomb on the flight on July 15 last year.
“I am not a religious man,’’ he told Brigadier General Hussein Abdullah, presiding over the 13-member panel.
The investigating judge, Alaa Khatib, has recommended the death penalty in the case if Mr Khayyat, a dual Australian-Lebanese national, is convicted.
“I am a nightclub man, a drugs man,’’ Mr Khayyat told the court in Arabic.
“I am not a terrorist.
“I am innocent. I didn’t know anything.
“I hear that (the bomb plot) on the news and after that they came and captured me. And started interrogating me.’’
Mr Khayyat’s Sydney-based brothers Khaled, 49, and Mahmoud, 32, are both charged over the incident last year and are in custody in Sydney.
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A fourth brother, Tarek Khayyat, is in custody in Iraq with another relative, Ahmed Merhi.
Tarek Khayyat is alleged to be an Islamic State fighter who sent the explosives to Sydney from Syria.
Police allege Amer. Khayyat took a bomb concealed in a domestic meat-mincer in his luggage to the Etihad check-in counter at Sydney Airport on July 15 last year and that a second bomb was concealed in a Barbie doll.
However, the suitcase was overweight and turned away, and the bomb never made it onto the flight.
Amer. Khayyat was arrested when he arrived in Lebanon shortly afterwards.
He had previously told the investigating judge that he might have been tricked by his brothers, who did not approve of his western lifestyle.
Another Khayyat relative, Mohamed Khaled Khayyat, was also named in court yesterday as being wanted in the case, along with the four brothers. All five could theoretically face the death penalty if convicted in Lebanon, although it is unlikely the other four would be extradited.
Also, Lebanon has an unofficial moratorium on death penalties, and has not executed anyone since 2004.
General Hussein said the hearing could not start because the court was waiting for documents from Australian authorities, including information on the progress of the Australian police investigation.
Information is also being sought from the Iraqi Embassy in Lebanon for details on Tarek Khayyat.
General Hussein told a distraught Mr Khayyat last night: “Amer., we didn’t start yet’’, referring to the formal hearing.
The case was adjourned until July 30.