Hyde Park rally three years on: Muslim radicals on a treacherous road to prison or death
A NUMBER of Islamic radicals who attended the notorious Hyde Park protest have since been jailed, charged or killed fighting with terror groups in Syria.
A NUMBER of Islamic radicals who attended the notorious Hyde Park protest have since been jailed, charged or killed fighting with terror groups in Syria.
Within two years of the 2012 rally, four men who featured prominently at the violent gathering had travelled to Syria, joining jihadist and affiliate groups.
After the protest, sparked by mockery of the Prophet Mohammed in a YouTube video titled Innocence of Muslims, Australian security agencies tracked others involved in Sydney’s tight-knit extremist community.
Abdul Salam Mahmoud, who took the nom de guerre Abu Hamza al-Sudani after travelling to Syria, was a prominent agitator at the rally.
The Sudanese-born jihadist, killed in Syria in March, posted a video montage showing him standing close to speakers at the rally and hurling abuse at police.
“Do you see the protesters doing anything violent or hurting anyone? Because I sure can’t see that,” he told his supporters.
Mahmoud, a senior Parramatta Street Dawah preacher who claimed he was performing charity work in Syria, was a close friend of former Kings Cross bouncer and dead Islamic State recruiter Mohammad Ali Baryalei and convert preacher Yusuf Ali.
Sydney-based Ali, formerly known as Tyler Casey, was killed alongside wife and former Gold Coast private schoolgirl Amira Karroum shortly after they joined Jabhat al-Nusra. Mahmoud, Baryalei and Ali featured together in propaganda videos promoting the Parramatta Dawah crew.
IS thugs Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, who was killed in a drone strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa in June, also featured at the Hyde Park rally, lunging at police during the protest.
Three other men present on the day have since been charged with terror-related offences unrelated to the protest. We are not allowed to name them for legal reasons.
Other radicals at the Hyde Park rally included Wassim Fayad, an associate of dead IS fighter Zakaryah Raad. Fayad was later convicted for his involvement in the sharia whipping of a Muslim convert 40 times.
Fayad, who worked with police on the day calling for calm at the protest, lauded al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden as a “martyr” following his death. The 48-year-old, linked to members of the Appleby Group, is at the Goulburn Supermax jail.
Professor Greg Barton, counter-terrorism expert at Melbourne’s Deakin University, told The Daily Telegraph some in the Hyde Park crowd were part of a “tight social circle”. He said the rally gave an impression that many Muslims shared the same sentiment as those at the rally, as it gained national and global media coverage.
“It sometimes gives the impression they’re having a larger presence in society than they really do, when we’re probably dealing with dozens of people,” Professor Barton said.
“In the whole of society it may run to hundreds. They are a bad element and they are very dangerous. But they are very small and very tight.”
He said the rise of Islamic State had brought certain players into the public eye as they acted as “important elements in a global network”.
“We are in a struggle for hearts and minds,” he said. “The recipients are already influenced by this propaganda, they only need dozens of people. But if it’s followed up with personal recruitment it becomes effective.
“They are not afraid to lie and spin, using whatever material is available to them.”
AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan has described the extremist community in Sydney as “very small” and there was an even smaller group that “wish to do Australians harm”.
Others who attended the protest were successfully prosecuted for a range of offences unrelated to terrorism offences or involvement with extremist groups or activities, and it is not suggested they are involved in any extremist activity or group. They included Elomar’s brother and former champion boxer Ahmed, jailed for assaulting a policeman.
Mahmoud Eid, previously jailed for his role in reprisals following the Cronulla riots, was given a 33-month sentence (cut to a minimum of 16 months on appeal) after kicking a police dog and pushing a policewoman.
Mohammed Issai Issaka, who refused to stand for a magistrate, was jailed for a minimum of six months for his part in the protest.
Three others were successfully prosecuted for their roles, including Omar Halaby, who pleaded guilty to smashing a police car’s windscreen.
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