Terrorist’s brother, Ahmed Elomar, granted strict bail
He is on the government’s terror watch list but that didn’t stop the brother of a slain ISIS fighter from ignoring the court and allegedly buying a horse.
Central Sydney
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The brother of slain terrorist Mohamed Elomar has been granted bail on charges he breached a stringent supervision order while facing a weapon possession charge he was later acquitted of.
Ahmed Elomar is alleged to have deleted more than 1000 items from his mobile phone’s search history, including articles and YouTube videos relating to ISIS and the fall of Syria.
It is also alleged the equestrian enthusiast communicated through a non-approved phone app – WhatsApp - and transferred $5000 to buy a horse when he was limited to transactions of $500.
The 36-year-old, who is on a government terror watch list, faces 10 charges in total.
Police will allege those actions circumvented some of the 54 conditions an extended supervision order has imposed on him, and occurred after he was granted bail in February over a weapon possession charge he was later acquitted of.
The order, which includes electronic monitoring and restrictions on where he can go and who he can contact, relates to his status as a “high risk” offender for a previous jail sentence for punching a police officer in the notorious Hyde Park riots of 2012.
On Thursday Magistrate Clare Farnan granted his bail application at Central Local Court, ruling that the articles he had allegedly deleted could be accessed in the “mainstream media … rather than anything more sinister”.
Those alleged searches “may appear suspicious” considering who Elomar is, she told the court, but many of the allegedly deleted items concerned children’s activities and horses.
“They are the type of items the applicant could access on a TV or through print media,” Magistrate Farnan said.
Acting Judge Rodney Marwick ruled in October that it could not be proved Elomar had been in “possession” of a children’s slingshot found on the floor of his Denham Court home in December 2018.
Elomar will return to Downing Centre Local Court on November 14.