Student accused of Turnbull terror plot calls AFP ‘immature’

A STUDENT wrongfully accused of a plot to assassinate Malcolm Turnbull has called the Australian Federal Police “unprofessional” and “irresponsible”, saying he was only arrested because he is Asian.

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A STUDENT wrongfully accused of a plot to assassinate Malcolm Turnbull said the Australian Federal Police were “outlandishly immature”.

Mohamed Kamer Nilar Nizamdeen, 25, also said another of interest in the case – Arsalan Khawaja, the brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja – had not been arrested, whereas he spent weeks in jail including at Goulburn’s notorious Supermax prison.

Kamer Nizamdeen called the AFP “outlandishly immature”. Picture: Damian Shaw

Nizamdeen was arrested at the University of NSW, where he studied and worked in the IT department, on August 30 after a colleague allegedly discovered a notebook containing a terror hit list of Mr Turnbull, his former foreign minister Julie Bishop and the Opera House.

Nizamdeen was charged with creating the document but released on bail a month later when two handwriting experts ruled the notes were not his. The charges were dropped on October 19.

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“The way that the AFP conducted itself is outlandishly immature, unprofessional, irresponsible and bias to say the least,” Nizamdeen said in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo yesterday.

“I strongly believe this happened because I am Asian, on a student visa and the AFP … had the wrong impression that I did not have the resources nor the capability of defending my innocence.”

Nizamdeen said he repeatedly denied the notes were his during eight hours of questioning.

The notebook was found in a desk at an area of the university he had not worked in for a month, Nizamdeen said.

Kamer Nizamdeen spent weeks in jail including at Goulburn’s notorious Supermax prison. Picture: Damian Shaw

He said Arsalan Khawaja, who has been named as a person of interest in the case, worked as his supervisor at UNSW.

“The evidence is the same but the person of interest, namely Arsalan Khawaja, has not been charged and locked up in Supermax and then investigated like what was done to me,” Nizamdeen said.

The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team – comprised of NSW Police, the AFP, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission – said it brought the charges “in good faith”.

“The very nature of terrorism matter often means that police need to intervene earlier than they would in normal criminal matters,” a statement said when the charge was dropped.

“The JCTT investigation has shifted to focus on the possibility that the content of the notebook has been created by other people.”

Arsalan Khawaja with his brother, Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja.

Usman Khawaja has previously said he felt for his brother for being caught up in the investigation.

“It is obviously an ongoing investigation and I don’t have all the information, but obviously the police are doing their due diligence,’’ he said.

“I am not that worried about it to be honest … (It’s a) ‘wrong place, wrong time’ sort of thing. I am sure he will be cleared.

“There are obviously a lot of other people involved, but my brother has been out in the public probably because of me, so I feel for him a bit.

“I am sure he is looking forward to moving past this and getting back to normal life.”